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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23732470">Kiss your best friend: TikTok challenge</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nonski/pseuds/Nonski'>Nonski</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Drabbles, F/M, I wrote this in like half a day so it probably stinks, M/M, TikTok, kiss your best friend trend</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:14:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>18,631</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23732470</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nonski/pseuds/Nonski</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The team gets introduced to the Kiss-Your-Best-Friend-Trend by Saeko. She has no idea what she sets in motion.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>262</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Saeko</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I don't own any of the characters. Which is probably good for them.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had all started with Saeko, really. She had dropped Tanaka off and once realizing he had left his shoes in the car, she had to go after him, clearly annoyed. The rest of the team was gathered around him and chuckled at the way she huffed at her little brother.<br/>
Daichi, being the charming guy he always was – sometimes to the annoyance of Sugawara - had complimented her on her outfit that day. She had looked a little softer, though a stranger wouldn’t have used that adjective to describe her, it was obvious for the people who knew her that she had given it a lot of thought.</p><p>“Wait. He’s right. You do look slightly less intimidating today.”, Tanaka said warily, “Why’s that?”</p><p>Saeko threw an arm around his shoulders, bending his upper body down to rub at his hair.</p><p>“Well, little brother, I’m up for a challenge.”</p><p>“Challenge?”, Hinata asked.</p><p>“Yup.”, Saeko grinned, taking out her phone, “Here. Watch this.”</p><p>She opened an app and showed them a video titled “Kiss your best friend challenge”.<br/>
Apparently it was a trend to kiss your unsuspecting best friend, under the condition you harbored feelings for them that weren’t platonic. The videos all kind of followed the same guidelines: Teenagers filming themselves and their best friend a couple of times, until they found the courage to kiss them. Except for a straight dude trying to kiss his equally straight friend as a prank, most of the videos did end with the friends showing a positive reaction.<br/>
After about ten videos, she closed the app, put her phone back and waved at the team.<br/>
“I’m off to kiss Nobu now.”</p><p>Tanaka huffed: “Yeah, right. You’re constantly ranting about how important feminism and consent are, yet you’re about to go kiss a guy, <em>your best friend</em> for 5 years, without asking him first?”<br/>
Saeko rolled her eyes: “It’s nice to see that something finally goes through to that thick skull of yours. However, I will obviously give him the chance to react and pull away should he want to.”<br/>
The confidence with which she left was a crass contrast to the emotions the people the videos had shown.<br/>
She had no idea what she’d set in motion that day.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Hinata</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Hinata was the first to act.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Hinata was the first one to act. He had pondered about whether or not to do it, starting right after watching the video. He was lying awake that night, wondering if it was worth taking this risk.<br/>
On the one hand, he could lose everything: His slowly growing friendship with Kageyama had just reached a point of mutual respect and trust. He was a part of the team <em>because</em> of Kageyama. What if the other teen didn’t want more than that? Would Hinata lose his respect, leading to a scenario where he also lost his ability to play with Kageyama and therefore losing his position on the team?<br/>
‘But what if it works?’, he asked himself, shifting from his right to his left side.<br/>
What if it worked? There was an awful lot of tension between the two of them, that much he knew. However, he was still unsure about the nature of said tension. Then again, if they got closer, wouldn’t that also help them improve their gameplay? <br/>
Gwaaah! He violently rubbed his forehead. All this debating only let to him being more anxious. This was just like most of his moves on the field. Maybe he shouldn’t overthink it.<br/>
‘Yes.’, he decided, ‘When the perfect moment arises, I will act on it.’</p><p> </p><p>It just so happened that the perfect moment presented itself the next day.<br/>
Coming up with a pretense as to why he needed to introduce people on his phone, Hinata explained that his elementary school friends who had cheered him on during the last games wanted updates on his life. It wasn’t a lie per se… The three had decided to stay in touch more and actually did so, but since they already knew everything about the team, it wasn’t really necessary to introduce his teammates again. Luckily, those were unaware of this fact.<br/>
Most of them smiled and waved into the camera of his phone. Approaching Kageyama last, his heart seemed to settle into his stomach. He hadn’t spent nearly as much time with him lately as he wanted to. Since Kageyama trained with the national team now, he had to skip training with Karasuno more often than not.<br/>
“But”, Hinata explained, smiling into the camera “even if we don’t hang out all the time anymore, we are still best friends.”<br/>
Kageyama rolled his eyes and turned around.<br/>
“Come on.”, he said, ignoring Hinata while walking to the court. His tone was rough, but Hinata was sure that it didn’t mean he hated the attention.</p><p>The training itself had been though. Though, just as always, Hinata still didn’t have enough by the end, no matter how much his muscles began to ache. Kageyama had tried teaching him a new technique, but it hadn’t worked out the way he wanted it to.<br/>
With both of them being frustrated, they didn't even need to voice that they were going to stay longer.<br/>
Hinata asked: “Do you mind if I film this?”<br/>
“Why would you film this?”<br/>
Kageyama sounded pissed.<br/>
Hinata shrugged: “It might help me realize how I can improve if I’m able to observe myself.”<br/>

“That… That’s actually not that dumb.”, Kageyama said and raised an eyebrow. He was still tense, Hinata could tell.<br/>
Hinata propped up his phone on his water bottle on the bench and went back towards Kageyama.<br/>
“Alright. Let’s do this.”</p><p>It took another 30 minutes for the two of them two become extremely agitated.<br/>
Whatever they tried, it never seemed to work. In the beginning, Hinata had thought it might have had to do with him being jittery because of what he planned on doing, but he was able to focus on the game and those thoughts hadn’t even crossed his mind since then.<br/>
“That was too low!”, he yelled at Kageyama.<br/>
“Bullshit!”, the dark haired guy retorted, “You just aren’t fast enough.”<br/>
“As if! You know full well that you just need to play higher.”<br/>
“Fine!”, Kageyama yelled and played the ball higher.<br/>
It still didn’t work.<br/>
“Argh!”, Hinata screamed, took the ball and threw it against the net.<br/>
It bounced back and rolled to Kageyama.<br/>
He slowly picked it up, took a deep breath and said: “Look. Let’s just do something else. End this practice with another technique on a good note, okay?”<br/>
His voice seemed calm, but the underlying stress was vibrating through the air.<br/>
Hinata hadn’t expected Kageyama to keep his composure like that. Since when was he the one keeping his cool?<br/>
Training with a new team obviously changed him.<br/>
Hinata wondered if it was for the better. He didn’t want to lose the Kageyama he had grown so close to. His Kageyama would have snapped at him.<br/>
Well. Maybe he should just see how much of the old Kageyama was still left in him.<br/>
“Alright. What do you suggest?”, Hinata asked and tried to hide the mischievous expression his face wanted to make.<br/>
Kageyama made three suggestions.<br/>
Hinata shut all of them down.<br/>
Kageyama pinched his nose, taking another deep breath. Was he counting to ten?<br/>
“Okay.”, he said, turning towards Hinata, “What do you suggest?”<br/>
Oh, this was tricky.<br/>
Hinata thought for a second before answering: “How about serving?”<br/>
“Fine.”</p><p>Hinata set up Kageyama’s water bottle on the other side of the field.<br/>
After five failed attempts to hit it, frustration radiated off of Kageyama. Hinata neither did nor felt better, though shooting an amused glance at Kageyama every time the taller one failed made it bearable.  It also got Kageyama to behave a little more like his brooding old self.<br/>
With his sixths attempt, Hinata got a bit closer to the bottle and grinned.<br/>
Kageyama saw that and huffed: “Oh please. You didn’t hit the bottle either. No reason to smile like you’re better than me. I will show you how it’s done.”<br/>
He picked up the ball and bounced it on the ground three times before serving. The ball hit the net and landed on the ground with a loud thud, echoing in the empty gym.<br/>
“Hah!”, Hinata laughed, “That can hardly be called a serve at all.”</p><p>Before he could react, Kageyama had stormed towards him, and was now shoving him.<br/>
“I am so sick of this.”, he shouted at Hinata, pushing his finger into the smaller one’s chest.<br/>
Hinata stumbled backwards.<br/>
“This whole day you’ve tried to get on my nerves,” Kageyama pushed on, following Hinata.<br/>
His voice got higher as he tried to mimic his friend: “Oh Kageyama, you need to play higher, or lower or something and…”, at this point his voice got back to normal: “MAKE. UP. FOR. WHAT. I. LACK!”<br/>
Hinata’s back hit the wall. Ouch.<br/>
Kageyama placed his hands next to Hinata, pinning him against the smooth surface.<br/>
He glared down at his teammate, who gulped.<br/>
Hinata tried to look away and his eyes landed on his phone. It was actually propped up in a way that made it film them. He was sure of it.<br/>
He looked at Kageyama again, whose arms had gotten a lot stronger (gnaah?). Little pearls of sweat were running down his forehead, making his hair stick to his face even more than it usually did.<br/>
His gaze had gotten more intense.<br/>
Hinata’s eyes darted town to his friend’s lips on their own account and right back up his eyes.<br/>
Hinata was sure that if he wasn’t already drenched in sweat from training, he’d be from anxiety right now.<br/>
“That wasn’t a serve”, Kageyama imitated him again with that weird, high-pitched voice.<br/>
Hinata’s heart was racing so fast that he couldn’t even hear a pause between the thuds. His legs felt jiggly.<br/>
Kageyama’s was still breathing fast, his breath ghosting over Hinata’s face.<br/>
Kageyama went on: “That wasn’t a serve. Well then why don’t you-“<br/>
Suddenly he was cut short by Hinata, who had carefully and just for a flash second brought his lips to Kageyama’s. Wisely, he ducked his head right after, scared of the other one’s reaction.<br/>
Kageyama stared at him in disbelieve.<br/>
“What was that?”, he asked, remaining in his position.<br/>
Hinata swallowed, overwhelmed by the closeness of their bodies.<br/>
“It uhm.. It was a kiss.”, his shaky voice made it sound more like a question than an answer.<br/>
“That wasn’t a kiss.”, Kageyama replied.<br/>
Clever.<br/>
“Well. Uhm. Then… Maybe you can show me?”<br/>
Kageyama’s hands wandered from the wall behind Hinata’s head and back and pulled him a teeny bit forward.<br/>
The training finally did end on a good note.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So like... I'm new to the fandom. Please be patient with my interpretation of the characters.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Sugawara</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>What if Yui acts first?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Suga was sitting in a classroom, absent-mindedly chewing on his favourite pen. That was, of course, Saeko’s fault. Or rather that of those videos he couldn’t stop thinking about. Just like he couldn’t stop imagining himself and a certain captain in one of them.<br/>He wasn’t sure when it hard started, but at some point during the last years he had begun to feel different about Daichi. They had always been close, yet whatever it was between them had shifted into something else than a friendship. Not only did they see each other every day, talked about everything, tried to spend almost all of their time together, but he was also aware that the others had named them the parents of the team.<br/>Daichi was simply impressive. Easy on the eye, but also smart, kind and able to manage a bunch of rebellious teenagers. He understood people more than Sugawara could ever imagine and he was constantly making sure everyone felt included and important, no matter if they were on or off the field.</p><p>A high-pitched giggle snapped him back into the reality of his classroom. A bunch of girls huddled around a phone, whispering, laughing and awww-ing.<br/>Among them was Yui, hiding her face behind her hands, but peeking through slightly opened fingers.  </p><p>“Wait!”, one of the girls, a blonde one whose name he just couldn’t remember, yelled and pressed the pause-button while turning to Yui, “Yui!”</p><p>Yui put her hands on the table, looking at her with big eyes.</p><p>“Yes?”, the female captain asked.</p><p>Her friend bumped her elbow into Yui’s side and asked: “Aren’t you hanging out with Daichi after school?”</p><p>Yui’s eyes grew even bigger.</p><p>“Yes, I am.”</p><p>“Well…”Sugawara hated the mischievous grin on the blonde’s face.</p><p>The girl continued: “Well since you’re already seeing him today, you should totally do that”.</p><p>She gestured to the phone.</p><p>As soon as Yui started blushing, Sugawara was sure he knew what they had been watching. It must have been the same video he just couldn’t forget about.</p><p>“Oh no.”, Yui said, hiding her face again, “No. I can’t just do that.”</p><p>“Come on!”, another friend encouraged her, “He’s totally into you. The two of you have spent at least a day a week together, pretending to <em>study</em>.”<br/>Her fingers were airquoting the last word.</p><p>"Yeah.”, agreed a tall girl with a ponytail, “Remember when they won? He even showed off that little charm of yours.”</p><p>That reminder stung somewhere low in his guts. Daichi had done that, but was that because he liked Yui or was he simply being his genuinely kind self, valuing their support?</p><p>Yui sighed desperately: “That doesn’t mean anything. Also, I can hardly talk to him, let alone...”</p><p>Ponytail-girl chuckled: “You’re not supposed to TALK, you know?”</p><p>That thought made him get a headache.</p><p>Yui groaned: “Alright, alright. Can we settle on ‘we’ll see’?”</p><p>“What are you doing, spying on the girls?”, Nishinoya said while sliding on the chair next to Sugarawa.</p><p>“What? No, of course not. I just heard them mention Daichi and that got my attention.”, he whispered, not wanting the girls to overhear them.</p><p>Nishinoya huffed: “Yeah, right.”</p><p>He paused for a second and then went on: “So, listen. I want to ask you something real quick.”</p><p>The girls got up and left, probably on the way to their next classes.</p><p>“Sure. What’s up?”, Sugawara replied, leaning back on his squeaky chair.</p><p>What if Yui went through with it?<br/>What if Daichi <em>enjoyed</em> kissing her?<br/>If they became a couple, where would that leave him?<br/>He wanted to be supportive, but he wasn’t sure he would be able to take it. He might have to distance himself from his best friend. That thought stung even more.</p><p>“Hello? Earth to Suga”, Nishinoya interrupted his thoughts.</p><p>Suga shook his head and apologized: “Sorry. I’m sorry. I find it hard to focus today.”</p><p>“No shit.”, Nishinoya said sarcastically.</p><p>Suga turned around to look at his friend.<br/>“So what’s on your mind?”</p><p>Nishinoya bounced his leg and chewed on his bottom lip.</p><p>“Do you remember the video Saeko showed us?”, he wanted to know.</p><p>Surpressing the groan that tried to slip out, he asked:“The one with people kissing?”</p><p>“Yes, that one. I was just wondering… What you think about it?”, he asked his vice captain with a weird look in his eyes.</p><p>Wait. Was Nishinoya thinking about shooting his own video? But with whom?</p><p>“Well...”, Suga began, “The people looked happy. But we can’t be sure they didn’t fake it. However, if you give the other person time to pull away I don’t see what would be wrong with it. It’s certainly a brave way to tell someone you like them.”</p><p>Nishinoya nodded: “Yeah. Like… Confessing your feelings is always scary, isn’t? Not like I have ever done that. But like… What if. What if I did.”</p><p>Before Sugawara could reply, he added: “WhatIfIDidThatWithSomeoneOnTheTeam?”</p><p>He spoke so fast that the whole sentence sounded like one word.<br/>Someone from the- oh. Ooooh.</p><p>It's not like Suga hadn't had his suspicions, but he hadn’t been sure either one of those two was acknowledging their feelings.<br/>Now he realized Nishinoya and he found themselves in the same situation.<br/>The setter scratched his head, thinking. He wanted to encourage his friend, however, he wasn’t exactly sure how the scenario might turn out. Also, he could feel the same worries and wasn’t sure if he was able to give good advice because of them.</p><p>“I just…”, Nishinoya went on, “You third graders are leaving us soon. You’re going off to somewhere and who knows if we will get to see you again. I just don’t want to miss my chance. And even if it doesn’t work… Shouldn’t a friendship like this survive? I mean… I could at least pretend it was a joke.”</p><p>It was weird, seeing his usually cocky, impulsive friend torn like this. Even though he hadn’t told Suga whom this was about, the third grader knew. Would someone that easily scared react positively or would he just run away?</p><p>“I feel like you know better what the right way to do this is, Noya”, he replied after giving it some thought, “You should just go with your guts. It’s what you always do and it has worked out quite well for the two of you so far.”</p><p>He put his pen back in the pencil case and closed his books. There was no way he’d be able to focus any longer anyway.</p><p>Reluctantly Nishinoya agreed: “I guess you’re right. I just… I don’t want to fuck it up. But I guess I was already set on doing it before speaking with you.”<br/>He snorted and continued: “Maybe this was just a way to ask for permission. And help to keep the team intact should it fail.”</p><p>“I’m sure it won’t.”, Sugawara said.</p><p>“Good to hear. You’re the observer. There is nobody as good as predicting the outcome of something as you.”</p><p>He grinned and got up: “I guess I’ll let you know tomorrow how it went.”</p><p>Suga was surprised: “You’re doing it today?”</p><p>“There’s no time like the present, right?”<br/><br/></p><p>Suga had pretended to stay longer at school, studying, just so he didn’t have to walk home with Yui and Daichi.<br/>He had left shortly after them and now found himself in front of the TV, unable to concentrate on his homework.<br/>His mind was occupied with analyzing the relationship between Yui and Daichi and then compare it to the one between Daichi and himself.<br/>Sure, Yui was cute. Furthermore, she seemed to genuinely like Daichi, but did he feel the same way? Ugh. Even though Daichi and he talked about practically everything, they never discussed girls, or in Suga’s case, his love life.<br/>Hell, Daichi probably wasn’t even aware of the fact that Sugawara wasn’t attracted to girls.<br/>Not that he was that much attracted to boys, either. There had been one dude in elementary school, but what he felt back then was nothing compared to what he was feeling now.<br/>He leaned back on the couch and sighed.<br/>Daichi never appeared to be as close to Yui as he was to Suga. Just last Saturday, when Suga had been over at Daichi’s place, he had fallen asleep with his head on Daichi’s shoulder while watching a movie. Daichi hadn’t seemed put off by that. He had simply let his best friend rest there until he awoke on his own, slightly embarrassed.<br/>They got along without words most of the time and never found it hard to compromise on something. No matter what they did, whether it be playing X-box, studying, trying to calm down a raging bunch of teenagers, they made everything fun.<br/>However, maybe they were only this close, <em>because</em> Daichi didn’t feel anything else than friendship for him. Maybe the captain was a lot more awkward with Yui, because he wasn’t sure how to behave around her, thus resulting in him being more self-conscious.<br/><br/>Two hours later, Suga still found himself over-analyzing the situation. All of a sudden, his phone rang.<br/>He saw Daichi was calling him and picked up.</p><p>“Hey, Suga. Can you come over?”<br/>His friend sounded desperate.</p><p>“Yeah, sure.”, Sugawara answered, already on the way to put on his shoes, “Aren’t you hanging out with Yui today?”</p><p>He winced, hating the way his own voice got strained when saying that. He didn’t want Daichi to think he was jealous.</p><p>“Yeah, that’s kind of the thing.”, Daichi confirmed, “I have some… news.”</p><p>Suddenly, Sugawara’s heart felt icy cold. He froze for a second.</p><p>“Yeah, I’ll be right over.”</p><p><br/>It was bright outside, with the happy chirping of birds and the smell of flowers lingering in the air a strong contrast to the way Sugawara’s guts seemed to be clenched up inside of him, his blood running cold through his veins. When he arrived at the doorstep, he took a deep breath, forcing a light smile on his face.<br/>It took only about ten seconds after ringing the bell for Daichi to open the door, wearing a pained expression.<br/>Suga’s fake smile immediately faltered.</p><p>“What’s wrong?”, he asked.</p><p>Daichi led him downstairs to his room, plopping down on the small, blue couch. It smelled just like him, fresh and minty.</p><p>“I think I really hurt Yui.”, he explained.</p><p>Oh.<br/>Sugawara hated himself for the relief he felt.</p><p>“How that?”, he wanted to know and sat down next to Daichi, which as much space between them as possible.<br/>Daichi turned around, his brows furrowed.</p><p>“Remember those videos about people kissing their best friend? I guess this is what she tried to do.”</p><p>So she had found the bravery. Impressive, he had to give her that.</p><p>Daichi elaborated further: “I should have seen it coming. I don’t know how I could have been that oblivious. We sat down right here”, he gestured between Suga and himself, “and she suggested I show her that new game on my X-box. Apparently, it’s fun to watch me play.”</p><p>That one was true, Sugawara thought.</p><p>“Hm.”, he said, showing Daichi he was still listening.</p><p>“So then she puts her phone on the table, claiming she wants to film us hanging out, since we’re such good friends…”</p><p>Suga tilted his head: “That um… That’s not really a good explanation for filming.”</p><p>“I know!”, Daichi yelled franticly, “I know! How didn’t I see it coming?!”<br/>He threw up his hands and then dropped them on his face, rubbing his eyes.<br/>When he turned towards Sugawara, he still looked pained.</p><p>“Alright, so what exactly happened?”, Suga asked softly, using all of his willpower to resist the urge to hug Daichi.</p><p>“We were sitting like this; here”, he pulled Suga closer.</p><p>“And then she got her phone right here, filming”, he said, setting his phone on ‘record’. And I was playing.”<br/>He pushed the controller onto Sugawara’s lap.</p><p>“Like I was focused on the TV.”, Daichi said and waited for Sugawara to turn his head towards the TV.</p><p>“Yes, exactly like that.”, he continued, “and then, out of nowhere, she’s leaning in closer.”</p><p>Sugawara tensed up when Daichi began twist his body towards his best friend.</p><p>“So she just put her hands on my chin, turning my face around…”<br/>When he replicated the moves, Sugawara’s heartrate sped up. It felt as if his heart was flattering faster than a hummingbird’s wings.<br/>His face was just a few inches away from Daichi’s.</p><p>“Obviously, I pulled back…” his best friend’s voice trailed off when Sugawara didn’t pull back.</p><p>He was so close, he could see all the little colors splashed in Daichi’s iris. He wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that. It could have been five minutes as well as just a couple of seconds. Time was standing still. <br/>Daichi’s eyes widened, surprise clearly written on his face, and , for a millisecond, darted to Suga’s mouth.<br/>Before the voice in his head could stop him, Suga closed the space between them and kissed Daichi. His lips felt warm against his. Instantly, Daichi reacted.<br/>Without breaking the kiss, he propped himself up on his knees, leaning over Suga, pushing him back.<br/>Having Daichi’s weight on top of him felt right. He deepened the kiss and his hands automatically slung around Daichi, hugging him close.</p><p>“Well uhm…”, Daichi cleared his throat, a slight pink blush on his face, when he pulled away, “This uhm. This is not what happened.”<br/>Suga laid there, speechless.<br/>Daichi smiled: “But uhm, I guess with you I wouldn’t mind it happening again.”<br/><br/></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I really like Yui as a character and I think that Suga would want Daichi to be happy no matter what... But I just don't see her and Daichi ending up together.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Nishinoya</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Why is Noya suddenly so scared?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Noya wasn’t a person who thought much before acting. Just like today, when he had spotted Suga in his classroom and immediately went over to ask for advice.<br/>It hadn’t even occurred to him that Suga might have thought Noya was talking about Kiyoko. To him, it was obvious that despite her undeniable hotness, there wasn’t much else there. Sure, she was a nice girl and he felt the need to protect her, but dating her would probably soon get quite boring.</p><p>That’s why he wanted to be with someone who wasn’t only hot, but also fun to hang around with. Enter Asahi.<br/>The way they simply understood each other was astonishing. It might have taken Noya some time to come to terms with the fact that he was just as much attracted to guys as he was to girls, but it was more than obvious why even the most exciting sport felt dull when Asahi had stayed away. There really was no reason for him to play if he couldn’t play with Asahi.</p><p>“Hey, big guy!”, he greeted his crush, walking up to him in the hallway.</p><p>Putting some of his books in his locker, Asahi smiled kindly. </p><p>Noya cursed that smile. Of course he had fallen for Asahi: The nicest guy ever trapped by choice in the body of a bad boy.  Killing two birds with one stone, eh?</p><p>“Wanna hang out later?”, Noya asked, a sneaky grin on his face, “I may have been able to... acquire something from my dad’s cabinet.”</p><p>“Noya”, Asahi sighed, closing his locker then leaning against it, holding onto one of the straps of his brown bag.</p><p>The libero hated it how much Asahi towered over him, always making him look up. Well okay. He liked it, he admitted to himself.<br/>Asahi opened his hairband to redo his bun, running his long fingers through his hair. Damn, what wouldn't Noya do to be able to do that himself.</p><p>“You know I don’t drink.”</p><p>Noya scuffed and knodged Asahi with his elbow: “Oh come on. You usually don’t drink and that’s fine. But don’t you think we deserve at least a little reward for winning?”</p><p>Asahi wrinkled his nose. It was the most adorable thing Noya had ever seen. Fuck.</p><p>“I don’t even understand why anyone would drink.”, Asahi said, “Alcohol never tastes good. Also, the whole thing about letting go and losing control… Let’s be honest, that’s not something on my to do list.”</p><p>This let Noya’s grin turn wicked: “And that, my friend, is where you’re wrong. I took a whiskey that – well, okay it does burn slightly – but it actually tastes great. Plus, we don’t need to lose control. Loosen up, on the other hand, might do you some good.”</p><p>And hopefully himself as well. Though he was a lot more self-confident than his friend, Noya felt like he needed some support for what he was about to do. He didn’t plan on getting drunk, but at least find the courage to finally tell Asahi how he felt about him.<br/>When his tall friend stayed silent, Noya asked: “So hanging out tonight? We can stay up all night, since the gym is gonna be closed tomorrow anyway. The first Saturday without getting up at dawn to train.”</p><p>Asahi look around the hallway as if he was searching for something that might rescue him.</p><p>“Alright. My parents are out of town visiting my aunt, so come over whenever you want to.”, he finally agreed.</p><p>“Don’t be so reluctant.”, Noya said, putting a hand on his chest with clearly fake hurt written over his face, “Otherwise I might think it’s me you don’t want there, not the booze.”</p><p>“Don’t be silly”, Asahi replied, starting to walk away.</p><p> </p><p>‘<em>Today is special</em>’, Noya decided and took out his phone.</p><p>“Alright.”, he spoke into the camera, feeling slightly weird by talking to an inanimate object, “So I’m about to head over to my best friend Asahi. We have been best friends for years and he’s always there for me, just like I’m there for him. I remember the moment I fell for him exactly, but it I did need some time adjusting to it, because, as you’ve probably figured out, he’s a dude.”</p><p>He paused and put on some perfume. He’d make an effort tonight.</p><p>Then he went on with recording: “I’m gonna go over to his place now. Wish me luck. Not that I need it.”</p><p>He took one last look in the mirror, adjusted his hair, grabbed his keys and left.<br/><br/>He had brought his backpack with him, not only for the whiskey, but also for the stuff he needed if he wanted to stay overnight, like he usually did.<br/>The plan was simple: Have a glass of whiskey (or two) to calm his nerves and then pretend to learn one of those silly hand dances, in order to get closer, in order to pull Asahi down to kiss him.</p><p>Currently, Noya was following Asahi to the living room.<br/>He was surprised when he discovered two glasses on the dark, wooden table.<br/>Raising an eyebrow, he praised his friend: “Nice. I knew you’d be up for it. Trust me, you’re not going to regret this.”</p><p>At least he hoped he wouldn’t.</p><p>Asahi shrugged: “Maybe you’re right and I do need to loosen up more.”</p><p>They sat down at the opposite ends of the brown leather couch, looking out the window into the beautiful garden. It was slightly slopy, ironically leading to Noya tripping once while playing volleyball, sending him into a tumble that he later on claimed to be the birth of his rolling thunder. </p><p>“Nice”, Noya grinned and patted Asahi’s arm, before taking out the whiskey and filling the glasses.</p><p>“Cheers”, they said and the clinking of the glasses was followed by Noya warning: “You’re supposed to hold eye contact, dude. Otherwise, well you know.”</p><p>A puzzled look crept on Asahi’s face.</p><p>Noya grinned: “They say if you don’t, that means seven years of bad sex.”</p><p>Asahi snorted: “Yeah like that’s gonna be a problem.”</p><p>Noya almost chocked on his first sip.</p><p>“Is there something I should know about?”, he asked, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>Asahi turned red.</p><p>“No. Like, no. Obviously not.”, he said hastily.</p><p>“Eh.”, Noya leaned back again, turning the glass in his hand, admiring the way the sun shined through it, turning the brown color into more of a golden amber. It reminded him of Asahi’s eyes.</p><p>Asahi tried a sip and wrinkled his nose again. Still fucking adorable.</p><p>“Though I agree, “Noya said, trailing his eyes up and down Asahi’s body and then winked at him, “I’m sure that wouldn’t be a problem.”</p><p>“Oh shut it.”, Asahi groaned and threw a pillow at Noya, who caught it and happily realized Asahi was blushing even more.</p><p>Noya decided to change the topic, so Asahi wouldn’t shut himself off again. They talked a bit about the taste of the whiskey, the team and their latest victory, as well as school and Asahi’s plans after graduating. Apparently, he was going to study design at a college near Karasuno. Noya was glad he wouldn’t be too far away.</p><p>After they both finished their drinks, Noya asked: “Feeling looser already?”</p><p>Asahi crossed his legs on the couch.</p><p>“Why?”, he asked carefully.</p><p>Noya took out his phone.</p><p>“I thought it would be fun to try this.”, he opened a video of the dance he had chosen and tossed the phone to Asahi.</p><p>After watching it, Asahi looked up at Noya, furrowing his brows.</p><p>“Why should we do that?”</p><p>Noya grinned: “Because it’s fun and it helps our popularity. Hey – I mean it’s important to be popular in real life, but as rising stars we also need to work on our social media presence.”</p><p>‘<em>Also, I have no clue how else I am supposed to get closer to you without scaring you away</em>’, he thought to himself.</p><p>Stretching his arms and rolling his neck, he got up.</p><p>“Come on”, he urged his friend, “It’s gonna be fun.”</p><p>He rarely needed a lot of effort to convince Asahi to do something these days, which is why he wasn’t surprised when Asahi put his empty glass on the table and got up.</p><p>“Nice!”, Noya grinned and stood next to his friend, “Alright, so it starts like this…”</p><p>He walked Asahi through the motions a couple of times, adjusting the taller guy’s hands with his owns if necessary. Only for the purpose of the dance, obviously.<br/>After 15 minutes, they were able to follow the motions fluently.</p><p>“Ready to record us?”, Noya asked, ignoring how his hands started to get sweaty.</p><p>Asahi nodded: “Sure. Let’s do this.”</p><p>Noya started the music, put the phone down and stood next to his friend. Suddenly he was aware of just how close they were, Asahi’s scent filling the air, and the body heat radiating off of him tingling in Noya’s neck, making his hairs stand up.<br/>He went through the motions up until the point when he wanted to turn around his friend, but found himself unable to do it.<br/>What the fuck.<br/>Noya simply stood there, messing up his moves. He took a couple of steps back.</p><p>“Are you okay?”, Asahi asked, a concerned look on his face.</p><p>“Yeah. Sorry.”, Noya said, his eyes focusing on anything but Asahi. He stopped the music and took his phone. “Yeah. I just… I need to use the bathroom. Be right back.”</p><p>He hurried off, leaving his worried friend behind.<br/><br/><em>Fuck</em>. What was that?<br/>He closed the door of the white bathroom, leaned his back against it and sank to the floor. This wasn’t like him. Noya was confident and brave. He always kept a calm head, never chickening out.  Shit. Maybe he needed to distract himself a bit. He checked his messages and laughed at a meme in a group chat of one of his classes. Knowing that Asahi would find it just as funny, he sent the pic to his friend. This. This is why he wanted him and not anyone else. Whenever he saw something funny, the first one who came to his mind to share it with was Asahi.</p><p>‘<em>Okay, you got this</em>’, he told himself, rubbing his legs.<br/>‘<em>This is what you wanted and you are not going to run away. That’s </em>not <em>you</em>.’<br/>He took three deep breaths and started recording himself.<br/>“Well, I guess you can see that I’m currently in the bathroom, but I’ll go right back to Asahi and finish what I’ve set in motion today. I taught him this dance – I’m gonna cut the video in here – and I’m gonna record us dancing. In the middle, I will turn around, pull him down – he is like unbelievably tall – and then kiss him. Easy peasy.”</p><p>Noya got up from the floor, flushed the toilet as a decoy and then splashed some cold water into his face. Looking into the mirror, he found his skin to be slightly paler than usually, even though he could feel the adrenaline and alcohol-enticed blood through his body.<br/>He rolled his head again and went back to the living room, where Asahi was standing, putting his phone on the table.</p><p>“Sorry.”, Noya apologized, “Nature called.”</p><p>“Hmm…”, Asahi replied quietly.</p><p>“You okay?”</p><p>It was now Noya’s time to ask, since Asahi gave off weird vibes.</p><p>“Yeah. Uhm. How about another glass of Whiskey before we go on?”, Asahi asked.</p><p>Noya nodded: “Good idea.”</p><p>Hopefully that would give him the courage to go through with it.</p><p>They drowned it within a couple of seconds.</p><p>“Okay.”, Noya clapped his hands and slapped his cheecks, “Let’s do this.”</p><p>Walking up to Asahi, he turned the music back on and they started over.<br/>There was a moment in the song where the beat slightly skipped and that was the moment Noya was waiting on.<br/>Just when it was about to happen, Noya felt fear tuck at his stomach. But before he could go through with his plan (or rather chicken out again),  he felt himself being turned around by Asahi. His friend bent down, cupped Noya’s face in his hands, and kissed him. The kiss was chaste, lasting for a second, but it still sent Noya’s heart racing faster than any make-out session he had ever had.<br/>When he pulled away again, his eyes were huge. Noya could see the fear manifest itself on Asahi’s face. Trying to avoid a panic attack, Noya grabbed Asahi’s elbows.</p><p>Asahi stuttered: “Was that… Was… Was that okay?”</p><p>“Dude!”, Noya laughed, “Yes. Always. Duh.”</p><p>Asahi smiled relieved.</p><p>“But, why did you do that now? Like – I am a hundred percent on board with this. It was just a bit unexpected.”</p><p>Asahi pulled up his shoulders, grinning sheepishly: “You sent me the video.”</p><p>“I WHAT?”, Noya frantically grabbed his phone. Holy volleyball, he must have forgotten to lock it and sent the video to Asahi while putting it back in his pocket.</p><p>He grabbed Asahi’s hands and pulled him on the couch.</p><p>“Anyway. It did turn out right, didn’t it?”<br/><br/><br/></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Yamaguchi</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It had started when they were kids.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sometimes Tadashi wanted to slap his best friend. Where did all those freaking insecurities even come from? Tsukki was by far the coolest person Tadashi knew. The way he analyzed situations proved that he was extremely smart. Furthermore, it seemed like all that pressure everyone felt, never seemed to get him as much.</p><p>It had started when they were kids. Tadashi clearly remembers the way Tsukki had hovered over those bullies, sending them their way. How could Tsukki not see how utterly impressive that was and why was he even so obsessed with being cool anyways?<br/>It angered Tadashi how Tsukki’s shoulder’s sunk ever so slightly when his block during training failed again. It was likely the others didn’t even notice, but just as Tsukki never took his eyes off the ball, Tadashi barely took his eyes off of his friend. There was something thrilling about watching him play. The way he focused on the game and moved accordingly, completely tuned in on the ball and adjusting his steps.<br/>Tadashi was impressed. Tsukki had improved remarkably and it showed on the field as well as in his private life. This training proved to be no exception, even if he wasn't <em>perfect</em>. Nobody, except for Tsukki himself, expected him to be.<br/>When they were done, Hinata and Kageyama, who hadn’t accomplished their new move, decided to keep on practicing. Sometimes Tadashi wondered if he should ask Tsukki to stay longer as well, but he didn’t want to annoy his friend. Also, he didn’t want to bother Kageyama and Hinata, who surely wanted to be left alone.<br/>The rest of the team went back to the changing room. In here, Tadashi made sure to not look at Tsukki at all, afraid he might blush or someone might catch on to him and his non-platonic feelings.</p><p>“Aah!”, Tanaka shrieked disgustedly and when Tadashi turned around, he saw Tanaka dropping his phone onto the pile of gym clothes in front of him, slapping his hand over his eyes.</p><p>“What’s wrong?”, Daichi asked and hurried over.</p><p>Tanaka shuddered and replied: “Saeko sent me a video. She… She went through with it.”</p><p>“What? Let me see!”, Noya grabbed the phone and watched the video. He grinned: “Hot.”</p><p>Immediately, Tadashi’s eyes drifted towards Asahi and the teen wasn’t surprised by the slight frown on his teammate’s face.</p><p>“THAT’S MY SISTER!”, Tanaka yelled, fist high in the air, ready to punch Noya.</p><p>The smaller guy shrugged, wearing a mischievous grin: “Still hot.”<br/>Quickly, Daichi and Sugawara stepped between the guys in order to stop them from fighting.<br/>Next to Tadashi, Tsukki sighed and rolled his eyes. Great. Now Tadashi had looked at Tsukki’s slender figure while the guy was changing. He ducked his head, pretending to search his bag for his phone so he could avoid starting a conversation.</p><p>Back at home, Tadashi checked his social media accounts and stumbled over Saeko’s video. He decided to watch it. At first, Saeko talked a bit about her friend Nobu. She had cut in some scenes from times they must have hang out before, together with written explanations for what was going on. Then she filmed the two of them in a parked car. Saeko bent over, pulled the guy towards her and kissed him. Simple as that. The guy looked surprised first, with his eyes opened wide and his eyebrows almost as high as his hairline, but then kissed her back.<br/>After closing the video, Tadashi suddenly found himself spending the rest of the evening researching similar videos, analyzing different outcomes.<br/>When he went to bed, he was sure: He <em>could</em> do it and he <em>would</em> do it. He had waited long enough for something to happen between him and Tsukki; he’d have to take measures into his own hands now.<br/>It was a scary yet exciting thought. However, if Tsukki rejected him, he could just play it off as a prank. There had been several videos like those, with straight guys trying to kiss their straight male friends, so that would make sense.<br/><br/>It took three days for Tadashi and Tsukki to finally be able to hang out on their own, without classmates, teammates or annoying siblings.<br/>They sat on Tsukki’s patio, their bare feet in the grass, after passing the volleyball to each other a couple of times.<br/>Tsukki sat next to him, eyes closed and his head tilted up towards the sun. Warm rays of sunlight hit his face. Looking up at him now, Tadashi was reminded of the first time they had met, when he had been sitting on the ground, while Tsukki chased away those bullies.<br/>They had come a long way since then, their friendship only growing stronger each day. Since Tadashi had also found the courage to speak up against Tsukki, the respect of the other teen had definitely grown.</p><p>It was now or never.<br/>Tadashi shifted slightly, about to grab Tsukki, but then realized he had forgotten to turn on the camera.<br/>He pressed ‘record’ and placed his phone on the ground.<br/>Silently, he chewed on his bottom lip for second. Then he grabbed Tsukki by the collar, pulled him towards himself and was about to kiss him, when is friend jumped up in shock, staring at him in disbelieve.<br/>Tadashi leaped up as well. Tsukki pulled his brows together, frowning. It felt like getting kicked in the stomach. Tadashi wanted to gesture to his phone, play it off as a prank, but there was something stuck in his throat, making it unable for him to find words.<br/>Oh shoot, he was about to throw up. What had he done? What the heck was he <em>doing</em>? He wished the ground would open up and swallow him whole. The way Tsukki stared at him, what was that expression? Disgust? Had Tadashi just ruined the most important friendship of his life? He stumbled back another step, not able to break eye contact under that intense stare. He wanted to stutter an apology, when Tsukki suddenly stepped forward. He slung his arms around Tadashi , who found it hard to breath, pulled him closer and kissed him back.<br/> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Growing up is hard</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Oikawa considered himself to be rather funny. That thought had come to him at some point when he made his fangirls giggle. He was aware that might have been partly because they tried to get into his pants, but still. His snarky remarks also made most of his teammates laugh. Sometimes, in class, even the teachers would smile at his jokes. Though he was no comedian, his jokes had substance. <br/>So why the fuck was it so hard to make the one guy he actually liked laugh? <br/>Oikawa only ever got a reaction out of Iwaizumi when he took it too far and then it was never a good one. It was frustrating. Back when they had been kids, Iwa and Oikawa used to joke around all the time, but at some point Iwaizumi had put on that stern expression of his and barely got rid of it at all now. <br/>It sucked. <br/>Iwaizumi’s smile was one of the best things in the world. It was so bright and genuine and made his eyes sparkle and Oikawa’s stomach feeling weird. Which was normal. Because friends are happy when the other one is happy.<br/>On the rare occasions Iwa actually laughed, that sound went right through Oikawa’s bones. It was addictive.<br/>Still, it would be enough if Iwa smiled more.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Oikawa sighed. He couldn’t remember when Iwaizumi’s face had turned all serious. It might have been a slow process, too slow for Oikawa to register properly before it was too late. Also, he wasn’t really sure what had caused it. It’s not like something overly dramatic had happened in Iwa-chans life. Otherwise, he as his best friend, would have known. <br/><br/></p>
<p>The next time Iwa laughed it set a weird chain of actions in motion.  <br/>Firstly, Oikawa’s stomach was doing summersaults again. <br/>Secondly, realizing that Iwa laughed because of a joke Kageyama had told him, his stomach came to a sudden halt and seemed to have been filled with stones. <br/>Thirdly, Oikawa came to the conclusion that he had completely and utterly fallen for Iwa and… Fuck. That should not have happened. <br/><br/>Time passed and Oikawa was at the same time relieved as well as extremely agitated about the fact that nothing had changed between Iwa and him. <br/>It shouldn’t surprise him, though. Iwa had seen every side of Oikawa, including all the bad ones. He had seen his insecurities, his failures, his stubbornness… It was rather unlikely for Iwa to fall for him now, right? <br/>Oikawa wasn’t the poster boy all his fans saw in him and Iwa knew that; knew the real him. Somebody so obsessed with improving and filled with anxiety that he got dumped after two weeks of the only relationship he had ever managed to be in. <br/>All the while, Iwa was even so much better than what people already assumed of him. He was one of the kindest, strongest and nicest persons Oikawa had ever met. <br/>Oh well, whatever. At least they were friends. <br/><br/>Another couple of days later two things happened. <br/>The first thing was an explosion of text massages in the team’s group chat while Oikawa was eating dinner on his own in front of his TV. <br/><br/></p>
<p><strong>Yahaba: </strong>OMG YOU GUYS</p>
<p><strong>Yahaba:</strong> you NEED to watch this</p>
<p><strong>Yahaba:</strong> Like right now</p>
<p>
  <strong>Yahaba </strong>
  <span class="u">sent a link</span>
</p>
<p><strong>Watari</strong>: WTF is that? Is that real?</p>
<p><strong>Hanamaki</strong>: rolf! i knew it! he’s so gay!</p>
<p><strong>Iwazumi</strong>: Who cares?</p>
<p><strong>Kunimi</strong>: oh. I didn’t see that coming.</p>
<p><strong>Yahaba</strong>: we all care iwaizumi. it’s entertaining</p>
<p>Curiously, Oikawa clicked on the link. It made him almost choke on his sushi. <br/>He saw that little orange guy kiss Kageyama. <br/>Disgusting. <br/>Oikawa rewatched it three times. <br/>For research purposes, obviously.<br/>He came to the conclusion that the video actually was real. That little twat had somehow found the courage to kiss one of the most intimidating guys on his team and had also managed to make said guy kiss him back. <br/>OK. <br/>It was kind of difficult for Oikawa to take all that in. <br/><br/></p>
<p>Then the second thing happened: Oikawa heard something on TV that he himself had said quite often recently, and which had resulted in a ball colliding with his head or a fist punching into his stomach. Every. Single. Time. <br/><br/></p>
<p>“What, are you jealous?”<br/><br/>The scenario on TV was a lot like it tended to happen in his real life. There were two girls. One of them, a dark-haired one, was flirting with a weird-looking guy, which made the other girl huff in frustration.<br/>The second girl clearly was jealous. However, she seemed a lot angrier about the fact that the dark-haired girl was flirting in general, not with whom she was flirting.<br/>Suddenly, Oikawa’s brain seemed to crash into a wall. <br/>Was… <br/>No.<br/>But.<br/>Was Iwa jealous that Oikawa kept on flirting with the girls? Not because the girls payed him so much attention, but because Oikawa seemed so drawn to them?<br/>Huh. <br/>Was that why he treated him so grumpily? <br/>For a moment, he wondered if he should ask Makki about it. Then again, he didn’t want to seem too desperate. No. This was a theory he had to test on his own. <br/><br/>The next time Iwa made a snarky remark about Oikawa’s flirting and the girls’ (admittedly) stupid giggling, the captain asked: “Jealous much?”<br/>Instead of leaving it like that, however, this time he threw an arm around Iwa’s shoulders and added: “You know I’d rather have your attention, Iwa-chan.”<br/>His friend shook off the arm by turning away and groaned: “Don’t be stupid, Shittykawa. You’re late for practice.”<br/>“But I mean it!”, Oikawa protested urgently, “It’s just so much harder to make you smile.”<br/>Since he had turned away, Oikawa was unable to get a good glimpse at his face, but he was fairly certain there was a slight, pink blush on Iwa’s face. <br/>Interesting. <br/>The second comment got him rewarded with Iwa’s middle-finger. <br/><br/>That evening Oikawa rewatched the disgusting video of the two mudheads again. Also, he found out that there were more videos like that. Apparently, it was some kind of challenge or trend or whatever. <br/>Well, if that jumping orange could do it, so could he. Right? <br/>There was no reason for Iwa to reject him anyways. <br/>Ok. Maybe there were some reasons. Or like a lot of them. <br/>Still. Iwa was a grown-up. If he didn’t feel the same way, it might crush Oikawa, but Iwa would make sure that nothing would change between them.<br/>Oh wow.<br/>Oikawa had never realized that he trusted his friend so deeply that he would rely on him to make up for his own mistakes.</p>
<p>Oikawa decided to act the next day. It was a beautiful, warm Monday. Just like any Monday, after being unable to stand Iwa’s constant pestering about how he needed to take a break now and then, Oikawa didn’t train. Instead, he asked Iwa to hang out.<br/>Feeling a bit nostalgic about leaving the school after this year, they decided to go back to where they’d first played together outside of their homes: The Kitagawa Daiichi Juinor High’s schoolyard. <br/>It hadn’t changed much over the years. A few of the buildings had been painted, as well as the walls, but all in all, it was just like it had always been. <br/>They looked around in silence, before Iwa pointed at the climbing contraption in the middle that looked like a castle.<br/>“Remember when that was the coolest thing ever?”<br/>Oikawa grinned: “I remember beating you in getting up there every time.”<br/>As if they’d heard a silent cue, both of them started running towards the castle, jumping up there. <br/>“Huh. This used to be a lot harder back then.”, Oikawa stated. <br/>Iwa rolled his eyes: “Duh.”<br/>They made their way to the highest roof and set next to each other. Oikawa leaned back. The warm tiles felt nice on his back and head. It smelled the way it did back then: Like the forest mixed with the scent of glue and tin. <br/>“Remember that we weren’t allowed to climb all the way up here?”, he asked.<br/>Iwa joined him and replied: “Yup. And I also remember how scared you were to actually leave the safety of the wood frames and get on the roof.”<br/>“Well yeah. It’s pretty high. For a kid.”<br/>Iwa huffed. <br/>Oikawa turned around, lying on his side, to look at his friend. <br/>“I also remember <em>you</em> being too afraid of the janitor to ask him for chalk.”<br/>Iwa turned his head and looked at him with puckered brows. <br/>“That man was scary!”, he justified himself, “Also, at least I wasn’t the one who was afraid to get our ball back from the neighbors because they had a Japanese Chin!”<br/>Oikawa pouted: “A dog is a dog and can be scary, no matter how small. But I didn’t call our teacher mom. Like ever.”<br/>“It’s not like that hasn’t happened to anyone else.”<br/>“Still embarrassing.”, Oikawa teased. <br/>“Not as embarrassing as running out of the gym’s changing room in your underwear, because there was tiny spider.”<br/>“IT WAS NOT TINY!”, Oikawa yelled in fake outrage and Iwa had a small smile on his lips. <br/>Holy shit. If Oikawa needed to embarrass himself in order for Iwa to laugh, he’d gladly do so. <br/>“Thank you for killing it for me, though.”, he said. <br/>Iwa raised an eyebrow: “Uhm. I never did kill it. To be honest, I just set it outside.”<br/>Oikawa pretended to be shocked: “That means it’s still here? Maybe with its own armada of baby spiders, lurking in the dark, waiting for me to return so they can eat me?”<br/>Iwa shook his head, still grinning: “It’s a good thing I’m here then, right? I will make sure the spiders won’t eat you.”<br/>He turned his head around again, looking up into the sky, then closing his eyes. His hands were folded on his belly.</p>
<p>Oikawa didn’t want to look away and felt the strangest need to grab one of those hands to hold it. He was reminded of the first time they’d been here, both kids on one of their first days of school. Even back then they had been the best of friends. <br/>“We did grow up a lot, didn’t we?”, he asked, his voice more serious than he wanted it to be. <br/>Iwa answered: “Some more, some less…”<br/>“It’s still weird, isn’t it? The thought that soon we’ll be done with school, not even knowing if we’ll end up at the same place afterwards. That we’ll have to become proper adults.” <br/>He didn’t want to imagine a life that tore him away from Iwa. It hurt in his chest and brought a lump up in his throat. <br/>His mother had explained to him that this was the way things go. Kids grow up and grow apart. It was normal, she’d said. <br/>He couldn’t have that. He couldn’t live in a world in which it was inappropriate to call Iwa at 2AM after waking up from a nightmare, getting drunk behind the gym, spending all of their time together… <br/>‘<em>It’s selfish’</em>, he thought, <em>‘but I don’t want to not be the most important person in his life. I can’t let him get away</em>.’<br/>Iwa opened his eyes and turned his head again, wearing an unreadable expression as he saw Oikawa still looking at him intensely. <br/>“I highly doubt you’ll ever become a proper adult.”, Iwa said. <br/>“Are you unhappy a lot?”, Oikawa asked, looking for a hint in his best friend’s face. <br/>Iwa narrowed his eyes: “Man, you really are serious today, Kawa. Why would you even ask that?”<br/>“I don’t know. You were like… cheerful back then.” <br/>“Things were… Life was simpler back then.” <br/>His eyes drifted to somewhere above Oikawa’s head.<br/>Feeling like Iwa didn’t want to deepen the conversation, they stayed there, like that, in silence, both lost in their thoughts. <br/><br/>“Well, as long as you got me, I’m going to at least make sure life doesn’t get boring.”, Oikawa said after a while. <br/>Iwa chuckled: “Yeah, no shit.”<br/>They fell silent again, until Oikawa suggested: “Let’s take a selfie.”<br/>He took out his phone and shuffled up next to Iwa. <br/>The scent of Iwa hit him then, a lot nicer than the scent of the castle. They both looked up at the phone, their heads almost touching. <br/>Oikawa’s heart started to beat faster in his ribcage, adrenaline shooting through his veins for what he was about to do. <br/>“That’s… You’re film-“, Iwa began to say when he was interrupted by Oikawa propping himself up on his elbow to lean over him. He gently brushed some of Iwa’s hairs off his forehead and kissed him. <br/>When he pulled away, he wasn’t sure if he was feeling relieved or ready to throw up from anxiety. <br/>Iwa tilted his head, puckered brows again.<br/>His voice was kind of hoarse when he asked Oikawa: “You sure?”<br/>“Yes.”<br/>If he was sure of anything, then it was this. Iwa should know. <br/>“You sure?”, he asked again. <br/>“Yes.”, Oikawa replied firmly.<br/>Iwa propped himself up as well, leaning over Oikawa to bring a hand up behind his neck, slightly tracing it with his fingernails, while kissing him. <br/>Oikawa could feel a light smile on his lips. <br/>Maybe he’d get to see it more often now. <br/><br/></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oikawa is always pretending to be this flirty, light-hearted person. I am not like that at all, so it's really difficult for me to write this. So like... I saved the worst for last? :D At least so far. <br/>In order to write more, I'll have to get to know the characters a little better, I guess. We'll see.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Kuroo / Kenma</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>With the way the universe seems to conspire against him, it's a good thing Kuroo is this persistent.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kuroo liked Kenma, obviously. You don’t stick with someone for ages and spend as much time as possible with them if you aren’t their friend, and you don’t stay friends with people you dislike. Naturally, he wanted what was best for Kenma. When Kenma had been allowed to call Yamamoto by his nickname Tora (and frequently did so), Kuroo had been happy. It was nice that the younger boy was making friends of his own.</p><p><br/>
So why did Hinata bother him this much?<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>You see, over the years, Kuroo had become an expert in reading Kenma. By now, it was surprisingly easy to pick up the subtle shifts of emotions in him. They were displayed in the glint of his eyes, slight movements in his dark brows, and almost invisible twitches of the corners of his lips. Not that Kuroo spent a lot of time staring at Kenma. (Shut up)</p><p><br/>
Whenever it was Hinata texting Kenma, Kuroo knew, because of the way Kenma’s shoulders dropped slightly and his lips curved upwards and he looked less shielded against the world… and Kuroo hated it.<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>It had been ages since he’d seen that look. Kenma had only ever worn it when he and Kuroo had been hiding in a pillow fort or were tucked underneath Kuroo’s huge blanked or while cuddling in his bed.<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>Growing up meant you had to stop building pillow forts and cuddling in a shared bed with your friends. Together with those two things disappearing, the look had been gone as well.<br/>
Now it was back, from time to time, and Kuroo was aware that it meant Kenma felt save and happy… So he should like it, right? He should be glad that his best friend was comfortable enough.</p><p>He wasn’t.<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>It was worse when they met in person.<br/>
At first, Kuroo had admired Hinata’s energy and eagerness to learn and improve. However, since Kenma and Hinata had bonded so well (and for fuck’s sake, why <em>would</em> they? They were polar opposites), that look has been back and it bothered him. Badly.<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>It wasn’t like he hated the young, hyperactive crow. Hinata’s willpower was admirable, but one time Kuroo had spontaneously visited Kenma (they always just showed up at the other one’s house, since they were neighbours, so there wasn’t really the need to text) and he had found Kenma leaning against Hinata on the living room couch, both caught up in some kind of game.<br/>
Kenma, who disliked most people and hated attention, had practically been sitting on the redhead’s lap, his hole back leaned against Hinata’s torso, with his head on that tiny shoulder. Even though half of Hinata’s face had been covered in blonde hair, he hadn’t seemed bothered.<br/>
It had stung.<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>Okay.<br/>
Maybe… Maybe Kuroo knew exactly why he wasn’t that fond of the blooming friendship.<br/>
He was <em>jealous</em>.<br/>
That realization had come to him during the latest training camp, when he’d stumbled upon Kenma and Hinata sprawled across the grass behind the gym, Kenma resting his head on Hinata’s legs, while the crow watched him play something on the PSP.<br/>
Kuroo had imagined himself in Hinata’s position. He would have run his hand through Kenma’s soft hair and maybe even dared to rub small circles on Kenma’s arm, just below the sleeve of his t-shirt.<br/>
Playing had been weird for the rest of the camp. How could it not have been? He’d just realized that he had fallen head over heels for his best friends.<br/>
<br/>
Kuroo had told himself again and again that this was <em>fine.</em> Kenma was allowed to like people who weren’t him… At some point Kenma would have to start dating a guy (Kuroo had known for ages that Kenma was gay, ever since his boyband phase). It might as well be Hinata. As long as Kenma felt comfortable around him and got treated well…<br/>
Even so… He <em>had</em> hoped that Kenma would want to date Kuroo. Nobody got him the way Kenma did and vice versa. At least that’s what he had thought, but apparently, that ship had sailed.<br/>
It left a sour taste in his mouth.<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>Kuroo didn’t want it to affect their friendship, which is why he pushed those thoughts aside. Kenma would talk to him about whatever was going on between him and Hinata whenever he was ready. Pushing him in those regards only spelled trouble (a lesson Kuroo had learned very early, that had ended up with him being stuck in a tree and… Oh well, no time to dwell on that).<br/>
Maybe then Kuroo would <em>finally</em> find the guts to make a move. All this pining didn’t do him any good.<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>______</p><p>Right now, the team assembled on the court after school in order to start training. Kuroo could see Kenma putting his phone into his backpack, that weird, soft expression on his face and in his body language was even more obvious than before. Was he… Was he smiling?<br/>
No, the flickering neo light must have played a trick on Kuroo’s eyes.</p><p>The uncanny feeling of jealousy that had come up when Kuroo had figured out Hinata must have made Kenma smile – Kenma, who only ever smiled on rare occasions like cracking a level he’d been stuck at before – passed during training. By the end of it, it was completely gone from Kuroo’s mind.<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>______</p><p>The next morning, he woke up in a very bad mood. He hadn’t gotten enough sleep, his brother had used up all the hot water, and then Kuroo discovered that his cat had broken his hairdryer, making it impossible for him to achieve his bedhead-look. On top of it, the class would be going on a field trip today, to an outdoor museum.<br/>
However, checking his social media before leaving for school, made him walk to the bus stop with a bounce in his chest and a grin on his face.<br/>
Ever since Hinata had trained with him back at the camp, the little crow had followed him on all social media platforms. So, because Hinata had also befriended Kenma and posted pictures of the two of them, Kuroo had seen it as his duty to follow Hinata as well.<br/>
This morning, he had watched a video of Hinata kissing Kageyama. Checking Hinata’s Facebook page, it verified that they were in a relationship now.<br/>
Huh.<br/>
Kuroo hadn’t bothered to read the comments underneath the video. Neither did he read the hashtags. This is why he was genuinely confused for a second when Facebook suggested an ad with a video in which people seemed to be randomly kissing others. Hinata and Kageyama had been in there as well. Weird.<br/>
Admittedly, he had become a little curious, had done some research and thus had discovered the Kiss-Your-Best-Friend-Trend.</p><p>His best friend, obviously, was Kenma.<br/>
<em>This</em>, he told himself, <em>is my chance</em>.<br/>
Yes. He would finally make a move and let Kenma know how he felt.<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>Luckily, the field trip wasn’t for third years only. The entire school took part in it. The principal had given the students different locations to choose from. Depending on those locations, 25 to 50 students were allowed to sign up for one of them.<br/>
Kenma had wanted to sign up for something indoors that included as much sitting as possible, but since they really wanted to stay together, they ended up signing up for one of the least popular destinations, just to increase their chances of making it in together. If this sucked too much, they could always just hide somewhere. Kenma would have surely brought his PSP and Kuroo honestly enjoyed watching him play.</p><p>______</p><p>He arrived at the stop. Several busses, each one supposed to get a group of students safely to the designated field trip, were aligned next to each other in front of the school. Students excitedly chattered, some of them greeting him while he made his way through the crowd.<br/>
As expected, he found Kenma with the rest of the volleyball club sitting at their usual lunch spot.<br/>
“Yo, what’s up with your hair?”, Yamamoto asked.<br/>
Kuroo dropped his bag on the ground with a loud thud and slid onto the bench next to Kenma, pressing their legs together.<br/>
“It tragically lost its life in the great Bathroom Battle of 2018. Good thing I’m a natural beauty, right?”<br/>
Lev started at him for a second and asked: “Wait… Does that mean your normal hair is what you <em>want</em> to look like?”<br/>
The team erupted into laughter, Kuroo joining in. Well, except for Kenma, who just sent him a slight smile that made his stomach do a backflip. For a second, he imagined what it would be like if Kenma would run his hand through Kuroo’s hair, trying to fix it with those gentle fingers of his.    <br/>
The group kept a friendly banter going, until Kenma and Kuroo had to get up to.</p><p>They got in the bus together, sitting somewhere in the middle. Kuroo left the window seat to Kenma. Like this, Kenma could ignore all the conversations going on around them and focus on a game on his phone instead.<br/>
Kuroo soon fell into a friendly chatter with the other students sitting in the bus. He barely knew any of them, but it wasn’t hard for him to make friends anymore. He’d been an extremely awkward kid. However, between him and Kenma, it was easier for Kuroo to approach people. That’s why he had decided he needed to be brave and make friends… For the sake of Kenma. If it was for him, being brave was easy.<br/>
Now he was able to lead conversations, joking with the guys and always smiling a little too intensely at the girls (and the occasional guy). Being the centre of attention like this felt nice for some time, but soon Kuroo found himself too tired to continue. He let the conversation trail off, slowly shifting his attention towards Kenma.<br/>
He remembered a time when he had been a little too tuned in on Kenma. When it had been difficult to look after others while the puddinghead was next to him, but thanks to volleyball, he had learned to broaden his focus in order to also notice how the other people around him felt. It was easy enough to apply that to situations off the court as well.<br/>
Kenma and he didn’t speak during the ride at all, but as usually, the silence between them felt nice… comfortable.<br/>
One of the girls, a blond one with lots of colourful, chinking bracelets, seated diagonally to his right, frequently tried to rope Kuroo back into the conversation. If his mind wasn’t that preoccupied with the mission that he had set himself for today, it would have been flattering.</p><p>When they reached their destination, they immediately left the bus. The first thing Kuroo noticed was the stank. It smelled like freshly fertilised fields in the dry heat of the summer.<br/>
The second thing he noticed was the way Kenma’s nose crinkled for just a tiny second in the cutest way.<br/>
The teachers, clearly as unhappy to be there as the majority of their students, told them to walk around in groups and meet back at the bus in the afternoon. They also left pamphlets about the museum, including a map.<br/>
Apparently, the museum displayed various stages of agriculture during the past centuries.<br/>
<br/>
The blond girl and some of her friends walked up to him and Kenma, asking Kuroo if they wanted to tag along with the group.<br/>
He didn’t need to look at Kenma to know that his jaw just clenched the teeniest bit and he subtly shifted his weight from his left to his right foot, angling his head in a way that made his hair shield more of his face.<br/>
“Sorry”, Kuroo declined, “This is gonna be our last field trip… We need some bro-time, you know?”<br/>
He smiled apologetically and added: “But maybe we can meet for lunch?”<br/>
By then, he’d hopefully gone through with the video and would be hiding somewhere with Kenma. He could come up with an excuse and apologize when meeting the girls at the bus in the afternoon.<br/>
<br/>
The two of them wandered around aimlessly, until -<br/>
“Oh my GOSH!”, Kuroo laughed, “Kenma, look!”<br/>
He pointed towards a pasture with Scottish Highland Cattle – according to the sun-bleached sign in front of it.<br/>
“Kenma, they look just like you!”<br/>
Gesturing between the cattle and his best friend, Kuroo saw Kenma pointedly rolling his eyes, which meant he was amused, but didn’t want to admit it.<br/>
Kenma shook his head: “And they seem to have your table manners.”<br/>
One of the cows had turned towards them, chewing loudly with grass falling out of its mouth.<br/>
“Come on!”, Kuroo ignored him.<br/>
He grabbed Kenma by his hand and pulled him towards the fence.<br/>
“Let’s take a picture.”<br/>
This was it. This was his chance.<br/>
“What is it with you and the pictures recently?”, Kenma asked.<br/>
Okay, maybe he had been taking more pictures lately.<br/>
Kuro replied: “I’m just preparing for college. Like… I can’t take you with me, but at least I’ll have something to remember you by.</p><p>He turned his head to look at Kenma, to analyse his reaction, but his friend was looking at the ground in order not to stumble. Dang.<br/>
Kuroo pulled Kenma into position next to him, casually leant against the fence and took out his phone, but the cows were too far away to take capture their crazy hair on camera.<br/>
“Let’s go in.”, Kuroo suggested.<br/>
“I am not going to go in there.”, Kenma said.<br/>
“But… It’s important to follow your dreams… and since<em> I</em> am going...”.<br/>
Damn. Flirting with everyone around him was typically the easiest thing in the world, but whenever he tried to use a line on Kenma, it was either way too blundering or – just like this time – too incomprehensible to grasp the meaning.</p><p>“Right now, you’re more of a nightmare…”, Kenma surprised him with understanding the implication.<br/>
He reluctantly followed Kuroo climbing over the wooden fence.</p><p>“Did you know that cows kill more people than sharks?”, Kenma informed him.<br/>
“Awww. Don’t worry.”, Kuroo replied, threw his arm around Kenma to press him against his side, and ushered him towards the cattle, “I’ll protect you.”</p><p>Shifting during the next two steps while trying to avoid stepping into cow poop, he let is hand trail a little lower, so that three of his fingers now reached the skin just below the sleeve of Kenma’s t-shirt. It was warm and Kuroo could feel his own skin tingle at the contact.</p><p>Too bad that he had to let go as soon as they were close enough to the cows.<br/>
Kuroo set the camera into selfie-mode and lifted his phone up, so that both of them as well as the cows could be seen in the background.<br/>
“Let’s take a video and send it to the others!”, he said and could feel Kenma rolling his eyes.<br/>
While Kuroo started to explain were they were and that the cattle looked just like Kenma, one of the cows began walking towards them.<br/>
“Holey volleyball.”</p><p>This was perfect. Kenma was kind of distracted by checking on the screen what the cow behind them was doing. He could do it now, as a surprise.<br/>
Kuroo  took a deep breath and started to turn around when suddenly -<br/>
“Gwaaah!”<br/>
Something grabbed his shirt and pulled him backwards. He stumbled and dropped his phone, before landing on his bum. Then something wet touched his head.<br/>
He looked up and saw a cow making eye-contact.<br/>
Immediately, Kuroo jumped up and backwards, while Kenma was bent over laughing.<br/>
Kenma gasped for air and pressed out: “That…. So… She tried to eat your shirt! And… And your <em>hair</em>!”<br/>
Fuck.<br/>
Kuroo looked around for his phone, finally spotting it.<br/>
“Oh shit!”, he sighed.<br/>
Kenma followed his gaze and stopped laughing. Well, almost.<br/>
“Quite literally, huh?”<br/>
His phone had landed in cow poop.<br/>
Kenma kept on giggling, but handed him some tissues.<br/>
Well, it looked like filming was out of the question for today. He just hoped he didn’t look too ridiculous.</p><p> </p><p>______</p><p><br/>
Kuroo could be quite persistent, a trait he liked about himself. He had learned to be brave for Kenma, chasing away bullies, joining clubs and always providing a shield between him and his genius of a friend if necessary.<br/>
He was <em>not</em> going to give up because of one hungry cow. <br/>
<br/>
The following Saturday, they were hanging out in Kenma’s room. Kenma had finished his homework in no time, because he was smart like that. He had started playing some kind of game on his PlayStation, turning off the sound until Kuroo had finished his homework and joined him.</p><p>They sat next to each other on the bed. Kenma stared at the TV, lost in his game. He was biting his lip and furrowed his brows a little, just like he always did when focussing. His movements became a bit faster, jerking his thumbs on the buttons.<br/>
Softly, Kuroo asked: “Looks like a good round, huh?”<br/>
It was obvious from how bright Kenma’s eyes had become, widening the teeniest bit at their outer corners.<br/>
“Pretty amazing, actually.”, he explained, not taking his eyes off the screen.<br/>
“You know, at some point you’re going to be this famous YouTuber and then you’ll forget about your lousy friends, like me.”, Kuroo joked half-heartedly. (He was kind of afraid that Kenma had this bright future ahead of himself that would ultimately distract him from normal people like Kuroo).</p><p>Kenma huffed: “I doubt that I could ever forget about you.”<br/>
They were silent for a second, before Kenma hastily added: “Seeing as you’re like… My first and closest friend.”</p><p>Okay?<br/>
Kuroo’s eyes trailed to where Kenma was again biting his lip. He wondered if they tasted like that mint bubble gum Kenma used to chew. The urge to grab and kiss him stupid turned stronger.</p><p>“People still wouldn’t believe me that I was your friend”, he tried to sound coolly, “But hey! I know…”<br/>
He grabbed his phone and started filming the two of them, “I’m gonna get evidence. And you can upload the video to share with everyone how amazing you did this round.”<br/>
Nervousness settled in his stomach and it was suddenly harder to keep his hand still. He would wait until the round was finished, though. Kenma deserved that victory.</p><p>What he hadn’t checked, however, was his battery. His phone died within 20 seconds.<br/>
“Fuck. You know what, let me just take yours.”, he said and grabbed Kenma’s phone.</p><p>“Didn’t you already take a video? Why do you need another one?”, Kenma asked.<br/>
Kuroo looked at his friend through the screen on his phone, already filming. For a brief moment, not more than a couple of milliseconds, something like recognition crossed Kenma’s face. The same expression he usually wore when he’d figured out a rival team’s tactic or solved a math problem.<br/>
Whatever it was, it was gone by now. It probably had something to do with the game.<br/>
“That would mean I’d miss recording that round, right?”, Kuroo explained himself.<br/>
He saw that the game was almost over and leaned in a bit closer to Kenma, taking in his sent.<br/>
He. Could. Do. This.<br/>
He got this.<br/>
Just a couple of inches and –</p><p>The phone vibrated in his hand. He twitched at the loud sound it made and realized that Hinata, of all people, was calling.<br/>
Kenma scooted up to him and took the phone out of his hand.<br/>
“It must be urgent. Mind if I take this?”, he asked, not waiting for a reply. He jumped off the bed and hurried out the door, closing it behind himself.</p><p>Maybe Kuroo <em>did</em> get a little pissed. It wasn’t the fact that Kenma interrupted his game for Hinata… or that he’d take a phone call when he was hanging out with Kuroo, but leaving the fucking room?<br/>
Alright, maybe he was overreacting, but he had tried to muster up all his fucking courage, just to get cockblocked by Hinata.<br/>
It was frustrating. He flopped onto the bed, which didn’t help his pining at all. Now he was surrounded by soft sheets with the lingering sent of fresh lemons and strawberries, smelling exactly like Kenma.<br/>
He buried his head even deeper in the yellow fabric. His stomach clenched. How pathetic had he become?</p><p>______</p><p>Having felt three times so far, Kuroo decided to be extra careful now. He started to carry around a portable charger for his phone and had told himself to remember to set his phone into airplane mode, should the perfect occasion present itself.<br/>
<br/>
The two of them were walking home after practice. They were going to hang at Kuroo’s place this time.<br/>
The air around them was fresh and light, making it easy to breathe and relax in the snug summer weather.<br/>
Covered in warm orange light from the setting sun, the world seemed warmer.<br/>
They weren’t taking the shortest way, like they usually would, as Kenma hated spending extra energy. Even so, today the bounce in his step and a glance to the right at a crossroad had let Kuroo know that Kenma wanted to take the longer, more nostalgic route.<br/>
Wasn’t it weird that he wasn’t tired? He’d been running through Kuroo’s head the whole day.<br/>
The pathway led to a couple of playgrounds near Kuroo’s house. Next to the playgrounds were three volleyball courts.<br/>
As usually, one of the courts was taken.</p><p>“Hey, let’s sit down for a minute.”, Kenma said and gestured towards a green bench in front of a wooden table.<br/>
“Sure.” Kuroo agreed.<br/>
That’s what they’d done last year a couple of times. As kids, they had trained on those courts whenever Kuroo had been able to motivate Kenma enough. Last year, they had started to sit on the same bench, going over notes Kuroo had taken about the team. Kenma’s input was more than helpful and this year, as Kuroo was the captain, he appreciated it even more.<br/>
Sometimes, the two of them would also look at the kids playing, discussing which one of them was going to make it into a Highschool team.<br/>
In this light, Kenma’s features seemed so much softer. The sunlight was hitting his hair, illuminating the back.<br/>
“Stop staring at me.”, Kenma said, grabbed Kuroo’s chin and turned his head around.<br/>
Kuroo pushed his hand away to find his gaze again.<br/>
“I guess there’s something wrong with my eyes. I can’t take them off of you.”<br/>
Shit. That sounded way more serious than what he had wanted to go for. Shit, shit, shit.<br/>
Luckily, Kenma looked at him, unimpressed.<br/>
“I am not one of those fangirls of yours. Pick-up lines lose their impact if you’ve heard the guy use them on like… 10 people before you.”</p><p>“Two more minutes, then we’re leaving”, yelled the mother of one of the kids, which led to an argument about how volleyball was way more important than dinner.</p><p>Kenma snorted: “That’s so you.”<br/>
Kuroo chuckled and nudged him with his elbow.<br/>
“That kid’s smart for his age.”</p><p>They sat there another minute, when Kenma asked: “So what? No taking pictures today?”<br/>
There was something off about his voice, but Kuroo couldn’t point out what exactly. It bothered him.<br/>
“It’s not like I’m following you around with a camera. I’m not a paparazzi. Not yet, anyway.”, he tried to joke.<br/>
“Jokes are supposed to be funny.”, Kenma replied, “And I didn’t mean it like this. It’s… Maybe you’re infecting me with your weird softness lately. Might be the last time in quite a while for us to hang out at this place.”<br/>
He crossed his arms on the table in front of them and rested his head on it.<br/>
Kuroo chuckled: “Awww. Are you gonna miss me?”<br/>
He leaned against Kenma, putting an arm around him to pull him closer. As long as they were joking, this was safe territory.<br/>
Then he remembered he didn’t want to play it safe anymore.<br/>
He pulled out his phone. <br/>
“I guess you’re right. Let’s take a video to remember this place.”<br/>
<br/>
Alright. This. This would finally be it. He was practically cuddled up to Kenma anyways and holding onto the teenager like that made him suddenly feel a lot braver. He turned his head and-</p><p>THUDD.</p><p>His head snapped back, hitting the bench, when something that felt a lot like a baby elephant slammed into him.<br/>
“Kuroo?? Are you okay?”, he heard Kenma panic.<br/>
“I’m fine.”, he reassured him, his vision blurring, “Shit. What ha-“<br/>
Suddenly Kenma was crawling into his lap, eyes wide and shocked.<br/>
“You’re bleeding.”, he said, voice thick with worry. He cupped Kuroo’s face in one hand, while trying to get a tissue out with the other one. With the way Kenma carefully held onto his face, Kuroo thought that this wasn’t so bad, actually, even if the world around him was spinning.</p><p>“Oh my! I am <em>so</em>, <em>so</em> sorry!”, the mother of the kids had rushed over, “Are you okay?”<br/>
“I’m fine.”, Kuroo repeated dizzily, feeling the sting on his mouth, “It’s just my lip.” <br/>
From the guilty look of the kids, it was simple to piece together what had happened.</p><p>Now he was even getting cockblocked by a fudging volleyball hitting him in the face.</p><p>______</p><p>He had ended up needing stiches on his lip, which made it impossible for him to kiss Kenma for the next week and also pushed aside all thoughts about the kiss-your-best-friend-challenge.<br/>
If he wasn’t that angry at all the shit that had been happening, he might have even forgotten about it entirely, confessed to Kenma like a normal person and they would either have lived happily ever after (or he’d died from shame).<br/>
But now it felt like the universe was conspiring against him and he would not let them win. Whoever ‘they’ were. <em>Whatever</em>.<br/>
The universe, however, didn’t seem to mind his rage all that much and ruined the next chance he took as well.</p><p>It had been a very long day.  The closer the end of the school year got, the harder it was for Kuroo to keep his feelings in check. He was aware that he stared at Kenma a lot more than usually and had also started casual touches here and there.<br/>
Sometimes, he felt like Kenma didn’t mind, for example when the younger boy practically melted against him whenever Kuroo found the courage to throw an arm around Kuroo. It made his heart race inside his ribcage every time.<br/>
Then again, Kuroo had started to notice weird glances Kenma shot his way and how he’d sit down next to Taketora instead of Kuroo when having lunch.<br/>
It was confusing. Even though Kuroo hadn’t done anything yet, it felt like their relationship was changing somehow, leaving him unsure as to whether or not he liked that.</p><p>This led to him becoming a lot more desperate, so he jumped at the next best chance he got.<br/>
They were sitting in Kuroo’s backyard, enjoying the mild air outside, when he spotted a crow landing in the big tree next to the fence.<br/>
“Oh, I totally forgot”, he said, “There’s a nest of crows. The babies hatched two days ago.”<br/>
He paused, thinking, then continued: “Hey, you know what? Let’s film you in front of the tree. You can send the video to your crow friends.”<br/>
Oh, how he would make sure the little shrimp would get <em>that</em> video.<br/>
Kenma reluctantly agreed and went to stand next to Kuroo, who took out his phone and started to record the two of them.</p><p>In hindsight, he should have seen it coming. The second he started to film, the crow left the nest again to soar high into the air… and pooped right onto Kuroo’s head.</p><p>This time, he didn’t mind it too much, though, because he ended up with a video of Kenma laughing.<br/>
Maybe he spent the evening rewatching it over and over again, admiring the way Kenma’s eyes crinkled and his whole body shook while he bent over, gasping for air.  </p><p>______</p><p><br/>
The 415<sup>th</sup> try (at least that’s what it felt like) took place at a team sleepover. They had gotten together at Lev’s, whose parents were out of town for the weekend.<br/>
Kuroo had decided that he maybe needed to woo Kenma a bit more. That’s why he used the way he could read his puddinghead to his advantage.<br/>
They were having a barbecue and the team was spread across the lawn on folding chairs. As soon as Kenma’s finger twitched, Kuroo knew that he was looking for a clue if it was okay to leave the current conversation in order to get up and get more food. So Kuroo jumped up before Kenma, grabbed his plate, filled it with onigiri and sausages (Kenma’s favourites), and handed it back to his friend, trying to suppress a sheepish grin. Kai shot him a weird glance, but Kuroo ignored it.<br/>
<br/>
They team lit the fireplace and gathered around it. For a couple of hours, they sat around, talked and played games. Since Kuroo was the epitome of courtesy, he’d wrapped Kenma in a blanket.<br/>
One guy after the other got tired and they went inside to sleep.<br/>
At some point, only Kenma and Kuroo were left outside. It had become harder for Kuroo to look at his best friend after Lev had dared Kenma to shave his head in a game of Truth or Dare, but after realizing that wouldn’t happen, they had settled for putting it up in a bun.<br/>
Now Kenma’s already extremely handsome face wasn’t hidden by the blond strands of hair anymore, giving him a more ethereally beautiful look. The curve of his nose and his lips that had been bathing in the flickering light of the dying campfire drew Kuroo in. They sat in silence. Kenma wasn’t even playing on his phone, but Kuroo couldn’t come up with something to talk about for the live of him.<br/>
<br/>
Half an our later, even though the fire died completely, neither of them got up. It was hard to see in that darkness. Still, Kuroo was hyper aware of the body next to him. He gathered all his willpower and turned around to analyse Kenma’s body language. He found Kenma staring right back at him.<br/>
With his hair up like this, his eyes reflected the moonshine and their already intense impact multiplied in a way that made Kuroo hold his breath and his heart skip a beat.<br/>
It was too dark for Kuroo to read between the tiny lines on Kenma’s forehead, when Kenma said: “Too bad it’s too dark to film. This would be a nice moment to remember, don’t you think?”</p><p>‘Yes, it would. If only I had the courage to fucking act right now’, the voice inside his head agreed while he nodded.<br/>
Kenma broke the eye-contact for a second, his glance darting to the ground. He sighed. Did he sound annoyed?<br/>
Then, all of a sudden, his golden eyes found Kuroo’s again and Kenma’s hand landed on his neck and what was happening?<br/>
What the?<br/>
Kuroo’s brain seemed to have been killed by the electricity of Kenma’s touch on his skin. Kenma’s brows narrowed in determination, his hand pulled at Kuroo’s neck, whose body followed willingly, letting himself be pulled closer to Kenma.<br/>
Unable to process what was going on, he just followed the touch, up until their faces were only inches apart and Kenma’s eyelids closed, his long lashes brushing Kuroo’s nose, before their lips touched.<br/>
Another bolt of electricity shot right through Kuroo, apparently rebooting his brain. His right arm found Kenma’s back, pressing their bodies together, while his left hand ended up in the blonde hair.<br/>
When they pulled away, there was an expression on Kenma that he hadn’t seen before, alternating between anxiety and bliss. He needed to savour it, so Kuroo went right back in, deepening the next kiss.</p><p>The next time he looked at Kenma, a couple of minutes later, his cheeks were flushed, his lips swollen, and his cat-like eyes hooded.<br/>
It felt good to know that Kuroo was the one who had done that.</p><p>“So… uhm…”, Kuroo was still speechless.<br/>
Kenma chuckled: “Sorry I ruined your plan. It just… Got annoying.”<br/>
Kuroo leaned back: “Wait does that mean you knew what was going on?”<br/>
Kenma raised an eyebrow, a small smile tugging at the corners of his still billowed mouth.</p><p>“You do realize that I’m friends with Hinata? He told me about the challenge before shooting the video, Kuroo.”</p><p>“Oh. So when did you figure it out?”</p><p>“When we were at my place and your phone died.”</p><p>Oh. Following this, things made a lot more sense.</p><p>Kuroo rubbed the back of his head and said: “Uhm… Then... Sorry I kept you waiting for so long. And honestly… if you hadn’t done this tonight, I don’t think I would have dared to.”</p><p>“It’s okay.”, Kenma reassured him and linked their finders together, “I can be brave for us too.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The one friend who got me addicted to this (thank you, Elena) suggested the idea for this chapter. She suggested that Kuroo should try and fail miserably, until Kenma got annoyed enough to take matters into his own hands.<br/>So... Sorry, Kuroo? :D </p><p>1. Yes, Kenma absolutely realized what Kuroo was planning just before Hinata called, which is why he needed to leave the room and talk to his friend. Who wouldn't have panicked?</p><p>2. I didn't really like to use animals as a hinderance twice, but I needed there to be a crow screwing things up and the cow thing happened to another friend of mine. I need her to read this and torture her with the memory ;) </p><p>Anyway, thanks for reading! Any feedback and comments are greatly appreciated!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Bokuto</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bokuto behaving like the idiot we all came to love</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I have no idea why this took such a different turn, but I promise the next chapter is going to be right back with focussing on the challenge.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“No “, Kenma says and slams the door in Kōtarō face.</p><p>“HEY! “, the reply comes instantly, loud enough for the whole neighbourhood to hear, and for good measure, Kōtarō forcefully bangs his fists against the dark wood a couple of times.</p><p>Slowly, the door opens up a couple of inches, Kenma obviously leaning against it on the other side, so Kōtarō can’t throw it open.</p><p>“Please? “, Kōtarō asks, grinning sheepishly.</p><p>Kenma huffs, opens the door and turns around to finally let him in.</p><p>Walking into the living room, not even waiting for Kōtarō to follow him, Kenma sighs: “I don’t have the energy to deal with your excessive pining tonight. “</p><p>Still, he plops down onto the grey couch and picks up his PSP, not leaving the room as Kōtarō had expected him to, showing Kenma is willing to listen to him. <br/>Though, obviously, it’s not Kenma he went there to see, but he’s glad the setter is willing to take part in the analysis of his misery.</p><p>“HEY HEY! “, Kuroo yells as soon as he steps into the living room, jumping on top of Kōtarō.</p><p>This is followed by their signature handshake, including a forehead bump and ending with a dab.</p><p>Then Kuroo listens to Kōtarō ranting, only chiming in with an occasional “bro“ in a variety of emotions: understanding, comforting, surprised, excited and sad.</p><p>A couple of minutes later, Kenma puts his PSP down and says: „Alright. I’ve had enough. I feel like I know Akaashi better than I know Kuro at this point, which is not healthy. And I will not listen to another description of his ‘perfect eyebrows‘ ever again. Bokuto, you’ve been pining after Akaashi for at least a year now. Do. Something. “</p><p>“But that’s what I’ve been trying! “, the owl wails, throwing up his arms in desperation before letting them fall down on the couch with a thud.</p><p>“Kitten “, Kuroo says softly, „Not everyone can be as smooth as I am.”</p><p>Kenma’s snort is the only reaction he gets.</p><p>“Seriously,” Kōtarō explains, “I honestly tried.”</p><p>He had. That exact same day.</p><p>The air had been weird between them, ever since Kōtarō hadn’t been able to stop staring at Akaashi and his new, super short pants. Or actually his extremely long and well-formed legs. Those nice, tanned legs that could belong to a giraffe.<br/>So when someone shouted his name, Kōtarō jumped forward to catch the ball he should have been looking at, which led to him falling into Akaashi, taking his setter down with him. Akaashi had yawped just like… a falling giraffe. A very sexy falling giraffe.<br/>When they had tried to separate their bodies from each other, Akaashi had managed to get up first, extending his hand to help up Bukoto and it had just felt so right to grab onto it and maybe let his fingers linger a little too much before pulling away.<br/><br/>Put in an outstandingly good mood, Kōtarō had decided that this was it. He needed to win Akaashi over and finally confess his feeling.<br/>He was a spontaneous guy, though, which is why he didn’t come up with a whole plan or some cheesy pick-up lines or whatever.</p><p>By the end of the training, when Akaashi was about to leave, Kōtarō just blurted out “I love you.”</p><p>“Okay.”, Akaashi had said, raising one of his perfect, dark eyebrows, “love you too.”<br/><br/>For a millisecond, Kōtarō had felt better than ever before in his life. Those words made him feel like his four-year-old self at Christmas morning. Adrenaline rushed through him, making his heart flutter and giving him the feeling that he was invincible. It was more exhilarating than winning a match with the perfect spike. The butterflies in his stomach could have led him to believe he was actually able to fly.</p><p>“Why just a millisecond you ask yourself?”, Kōtarō goes on, “Well, it was followed by the one word, nobody wants to hear in that statement: Dude. He said ‘Love you too, dude.’ And…”</p><p>“Bro…”, Kuroo says sympathetically and puts his hand on the other captain’s shoulder.</p><p>With his voice unusually quiet, Kōtarō continues: “And I just… I don’t know. Did he react like that because he didn’t understand me correctly… or because he <em>did</em> and friendzoned me? It’s so frustrating. I…”, he grabs a pillow and hides his face behind it, “I like him <em>so much</em>. What am I doing wrong?”</p><p>Suddenly, Kuroo shoots up, clapping his hands once.</p><p>“Bro! I’ve got it! Invite him to hang out with the three of us. We can go on a double date! And then the master of observation aka I can check out what’s going on.”</p><p>Kenma whips up his head and even Kōtarō is able to read the pure horror flashing on the setter’s face.</p><p>“Kuro, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”</p><p>“But kitten… We need to help our bro out. Plus, it might finally free you of talks like these. What do you say, huh?”</p><p>The grin on Kuro’s face tells Kenma that his boyfriend knows he has won.</p><p>Kōtarō watches Kenma scrunch up his nose, until he finally gives in.</p><p>“YES! Thank you, guys! You will not regret this!”</p><p> </p><p>______</p><p> </p><p>Kenma regrets agreeing to Kuro’s plan as soon as he realizes it will involve leaving the house.<br/>Socializing with Akaashi isn’t actually <em>that</em> bad. The younger owl is nice, quiet and respects Kenma’s boundaries.<br/>However, going to a diner is not what Kenma would have chosen for their Friday evening. Why would he?<br/>Kuro makes the best food anyway, so there really is no reason to go out to buy unhealthy stuff in a crowded, loud, stifling room full of strangers, when they could enjoy a nice and peaceful evening at home – at least partially nice and peaceful, considering the presence of the two hyperactive third years.</p><p>“The sooner we figure out what’s going on, the sooner this is over.”, Kuro encourages him and takes Kenma’s hand in his while walking up to the shabby place.<br/>It’s not like Kenma has suddenly grown fond of PDA, so Kuro lets go of him as soon as he spots Bokuto, running up to the spiky haired guy. The two of them hug, jumping up and down excitedly, while Akaashi stiffly stands next to them, visibly relaxing as Kenma goes up to greet him.</p><p>When they enter the diner, Kuro and Bokuto sit down across from each other and Kenma slides onto the bench next to Kuro, leaving Akaashi to sit across from Kenma.</p><p>Honestly, Nekoma’s setter is not the most sociable person in the whole world. Far from it, to be fair. Still, even he knows that the ‘catching up’ Kuro and Bokuto have been doing for the past five minutes (without as so much glancing at the other two), has to annoy Akaashi, whether he saw Bokuto as a friend or a potential date.</p><p>Therefore, he decides that he needs to interrupt this conversation.<br/>Simultaneously trying to change the topic, to include Akaashi and to help Bokuto worm his way into the vice captain’s heart, he asks Bokuto how the team will handle itself once he’s going to be gone and Akaashi has to take over.<br/>Okay, maybe Bokuto had already lamented over that for half an hour the last time they spoke, pointing out every good quality of his crush, but Akaashi hadn’t been there, and needed to hear that for himself.</p><p>This time, the speech is much shorter, but when it ends with Bokuto claiming there was “no one else with captain skills even remotely comparable to Akaashi’s patience, intelligence and game sense”, it still leaves the faint trace of a smile on Akaashi’s face.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as the food arrives and they start eating, Kenma is sure that he’s figured out where the problem lies. Anyone who isn’t blind should be able to see it.<br/>Seriously, if he is able to point his finger at it, shouldn’t social more adept people like Kuro and Bokuto be able to get it?</p><p>Currently, he watches Bokuto taking a fry off Kuro’s plate, dipping it in Bokuto’s strawberry milkshake and then hold it out for Kuro to take a bite.</p><p>Kenma glances at Akaashi, who is wearing the same apathetic look as always, but Kenma can feel him shuffle his feet.</p><p>Resisting the urge to bang his head on the table in frustration, Kenma asks Kuro to share his fries with him, pulling the plate far away from Bokuto. He also tries to give them a <em>look</em>, but he doubts the captains got the message.</p><p>It doesn’t stop there, though. With their conversation drifting back to volleyball, Bokuto and Kuro argue about which one of them is the better spiker. Somehow, and Kenma seriously can’t see the connection, the two captains end up comparing the sizes of their hands. That in itself is harmless enough, but after they’re done and Bokuto ‘won’, their hands land right next to each other and from where he sits, it might look like the two of them are holding hands.</p><p>The thing is: Kenma <em>knows</em>, that Kuro and Bokuto see each other as strictly platonic friends. None of them would ever feel the desire to change that relationship.<br/><em>Kenma</em> knows.<br/><em>Akaashi</em> excuses himself and walks towards the bathroom.</p><p>“Are you kidding me?”, Kenma hisses as soon as Akaashi is out of hearing range.</p><p>Before he can elaborate on that, his phone rings. It’s Hinata, who only ever calls when things are actually urgent (and, thinking back, also whenever he disrupts important moments).</p><p>“Dang, I’ll be right back. Just stop <em>that</em>.”, Kenma says and vaguely gestures between them.</p><p>______</p><p>Unsurprisingly, they don’t stop it.<br/>Bokuto and Kuro seem to have entered their exited puppy mode, leaving both of them with the enthusiasm as well as the cognitive function of a new born shiba inu.</p><p>Not being able to talk the group into playing ‘the floor is lava’ on the way to Kuro’s apartment, Bokuto and Kuro settle for playfighting each other.<br/>Under normal circumstances, Kenma wouldn’t mind. He’s not much for touching others, bumping shoulders or wrestling. Usually, he’d be happy that Kuro gets to rid himself of his excessive energy with Bokuto.<br/>By now, Kenma is pretty certain that Akaashi likes Bokuto. He only looked at the arguing third years once, eyes slowly narrowed, then trying to pick up a conversation with Kenma.</p><p>When Kuro and Bokuto finally stop, Kenma is relieved.<br/>He should, however, have anticipated that things would only get worse.</p><p>The second he spots an ice cream van, Bokuto stops mid-sound effect of describing a game he saw on TV and all but slams his arm into Kuro’s stomach, before dragging him along at a speed neither of the other two wants to keep up with.<br/>Kenma’s desire to slam his own head against a table is replaced by the mental image of slamming his friend’s head against the van.</p><p>Admittedly, it is a nice gesture when the two return with ice cream for all of them, Bokuto shyly handing Akaashi a cone. Akaashi’s ears even turn slightly pink when he thanks Bokuto for getting him his favourite flavours.<br/>Still, even Kenma know them by this point, after enduring endless lectures about every ‘amazing’ quality of the younger setter, as well as his allergies, likes and dislikes.</p><p>Believe it or not, for two seconds Bokuto had used his brain and the results were visible, right in front of Kenma. What a great run.<br/>However, that’s apparently where Bokuto’s line of thinking ends.<br/><br/>Bokuto offers Kuro some of his ice cream, who licks it right from his cone.</p><p>Holy ocarina of time!  </p><p>“Oops.”, is all Kenma says, when he oh-so-accidently stumbles into Bokuto and makes sure the taller guy drops his dessert.</p><p>For good measure, Kenma also slides his fingers into Kuro’s, pulling his boyfriend to trail along his side, leaving Bokuto to walk next to Akaashi.<br/>If Kuro is surprised by the sudden affection, he doesn’t show it.</p><p><em>Okay</em>, Kenma thinks to himself, <em>this has to stop</em>.</p><p>“So, Bukoto, how did the last practice match go?”, Kenma asks.</p><p>Bokuto turns around and starts walking backwards, while tilting his head in question: “Didn’t I tell you about that last time?”</p><p>Kenma pinches his nose and replies: “Not that I remember. Any… <em>improvements</em>… in your team?”</p><p>Desperately, he nods towards the back of Akaashi’s head.</p><p>“OH! Yes, right!”, Bokuto grins at him, “Yes. The team is making great progress. Especially Akaashi. You should have seen his receives.”</p><p>From the corner of his eyes, Kenma can see Akaashi walk just a bit straighter than he had before.</p><p>The Bokuto goes on: “They’re almost as good as Kuroo’s now.”</p><p>Sighing deeply, Kenma thinks that it’s true what they say: You can lead an owl to water, but you can’t make it think.  </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>______</p><p> </p><p>Half an hour later, Kenma is rubbing his eyes in desperation. The four of them are sitting on the couch in Kuro’s living room, whose parents are out of town for the weekend.</p><p>Bokuto, as always, threw his long legs over Kuro, while playing Mario Kart, which led to them playfighting and rolling around on the couch.  </p><p>Maybe Kenma should get one of those spray bottles his grandma used to punish her cats. At least it would be satisfying to dose the two idiots whenever they get too close.</p><p>It’s not like Kenma is jealous, but what is Akaashi supposed to think?</p><p>Kenma takes a deep breath and asks Kuro to help him with something in the kitchen. That’s what grown-ups do, right?</p><p>“But why do you need my help?”, Kuro tilts his head.</p><p>“The spray bottle is on the top shelf and I’m tiny.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>Frustrated, Kenma grits his teeth: “Just come with me, alright?”</p><p>______</p><p> </p><p>A lot of times, Kōtarō’s feelings remind him of a volleyball during a game. Mostly, he soars high through the air, untouchable… Other times, he feels like getting slapped, plummeting to the ground. When Akaashi is around, his mood is usually lighter, sometimes borderline ecstatic. It’s like the second grader knows exactly what to say and do to make him happy. Kōtarō curses himself for not being able to influence Akaashi in the same way. Even worse, being around Kōtarō tends often times tends to create bad emotions for Akaashi, judging by the way his lips turn into a tiny frown and his eyes darken. Just like they did for the whole evening.</p><p>Kōtarō suddenly finds himself alone with Akaashi in, who is typing something on his phone, unsure of what to do.</p><p>The thing is: Akaashi is unbelievably smart as well as educated. A lot of times, Kōtarō wonders if he might think that Kōtarō is stupid. That’s why he doesn’t dare to talk about anything school-related, except for volleyball. Anyhow, as much as he likes discussing their favourite sport, they’ve done that enough tonight.</p><p>Should he carefully test the waters? Perhaps he shouldn’t just act on instinct, but get a feeling of the situation.</p><p>He clears his throat: “Uhm… It’s nice how Kuroo and Kenma are dating now, don’t you think?”</p><p>“I guess.”, Akaashi shrugs, putting his phone back into his pocket.</p><p>Kōtarō bites his lip: “Sometimes… I think… You know… That it would be nice to have that for myself.”</p><p>“Yeah, that much is obvious”, Akaashi replies… bitterly? Why does he sound so bitter?</p><p>Kōtarō’s stomach clenches.</p><p>“Are you alright?”, he asks.</p><p>Akaashi huffs, pointedly looking anywhere but him.</p><p>“Yes, Bokuto. I’m alright. I just thought you’d at least respect Kenma a bit more.”</p><p>“Huh? What do you mean?”</p><p>This isn’t good. This feels like the last set with the match ball with his opponents, only being seconds away from getting crushed.</p><p>Akaashi stands up: “Sorry. I just remembered I have to feed the cat. My neighbour’s cat, obviously, since we don’t own one, but it’s urgent and I should go right now. Please let Kuroo and Kenma know I’m sorry.”</p><p>Kōtarō jumps off the couch and hurries after Akaashi, who has already reached the door.</p><p>“Oh, okay. Want me to come with you? I’m good with cats.”, he offers.</p><p>While opening the door, Akaashi answers: “I don’t think the neighbour would be happy if I brought strangers over.”</p><p>“Oh. Alright.”, Kōtarō can feel himself visibly deflate, ”Then… Let me walk you to the bus stop.”</p><p>Akaashi finally looks at him and his stoic expression wavers for a second, but he slowly shakes his head and goes right back to that apathetic look.</p><p>“I’ll be fine on my own. Thank you, Bokuto.”</p><p>With that, he steps over the threshold and closes the door behind him.</p><p>This hurts worse than loosing at Tokyo Tournament. Feeling his heart shattering into a million pieces, his body sets into auto pilot mode, not even bothering to go couch, but instead flopping down onto the carpet in front of it, burring his face and the white fabric.</p><p>“Where’s Akaashi?”, Kuroo immediately asks when he comes back, followed by Kenma.</p><p>Kōtarō tries to explain what happened in that eloquent way of his, but Kenma interrupts him.</p><p>“Bokuto, you sound like a dying whale. Take your face out of the carpet.”</p><p>“He left.”, Kōtarō explains, “And I don’t know why.”</p><p>What follows is a first: Kenma smacks himself in the face, hard enough for the sound to pierce through Kōtarō’s whining, before yelling: “HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT?”</p><p>“See what?”, the third years reply in union.</p><p>Kenma takes another deep breath and tries to keep his voice steady: “The two of you have been flirting the whole damn evening. <em>I</em> don’t mind. But imagine how Akaashi must have felt.”</p><p>Kōtarō laughs: “That’s ridiculous.”</p><p>Kenma’s eyes grow wide.</p><p>“Ridiculous?”, he asks sharply, “You know what’s ridiculous? Your crush sitting right next to you at dinner, and you feeding another guy fries.”</p><p>“But-“, Kōtarō tries to say, only to get interrupted by Kenma.</p><p>“No! No buts. You’ve been constantly up in Kuro’s space, hugging him, talking to him, dragging him along for ice cream. Heck, you let him. Lick. Your. Cone. And then, back here, instead of trying to get closer to Akaashi, you practically climb into Kuro’s lap. How is that not flirting?”</p><p>Kōtarō looks at Kenma and wonders how dense his friend is: “Well it’s not, because it’s Kuroo. No offense, dude.”</p><p>“None taken.”, Kuroo replies, “But yeah. This is a completely platonic bromance. It ain’t flirting if it’s your best friend.”</p><p>Kenma stares at them in disbelieve.</p><p>Suddenly, though, what Kenma said sinks in.</p><p>Kōtarō leaps up towards the door: “But wait! That means… You think he’s jealous?”</p><p>“YES.”, Kenma hisses, “Akaashi is jealous.”</p><p>“I’ve got to catch up! See you later, sorry, bye!”, Kōtarō shouts while sprinting through the door.</p><p>He runs as fast than ever before on the court.</p><p>The moment he is finally able to make out Akaashi’s green jacket under a street lamp, he calls his name.</p><p>Akaashi stops hesitantly, but waits until Kōtarō reaches him.<br/>Out of breath, Kōtarō props his hands on his upper legs and gasps.</p><p>“I..”, he starts, “Sorry. I…”, he gasps for air, “Sorry, Akaashi.”</p><p>And shit, Akaashi looks so beautiful. The warm light of the lantern hits the back of his head perfectly, creating a small, bright halo on his dark hair.  </p><p>The way he looks at Kōtarō is different, though.</p><p>“Akaashi,” he tries again, “I need to explain something.”</p><p>Akaashi crosses his arms over his chest, lips pressed in a thin line, but he is silent and Kōtarō takes that as a hint for him to continue.</p><p>“See, Kuroo is my best friend. Do you know how he confessed to Kenma?”</p><p>Not waiting for an answer, he proceeds to clarify: “He did that Kiss Your Best Friend Challenge. Well, to be fair, Kenma did, but that’s not the point.”</p><p>Dang, is his heart still racing like that from running? Is that why his hands are getting sweaty?</p><p>“The point is,” he tells Akaashi, “That when I first heard about that challenge, my instant reaction was ‘ew’. Because as much as I like Kuroo and his hugs, I can’t imagine kissing him. I love him, but not in a way that would make me want to see him naked. Not in a way that makes my heart flutter whenever I look at him or in a way that makes holding back from taking his hand taking up all my willpower. I don’t want to kiss him all over his face or come to him for support whenever I feel down. He’s not the one I want to cuddle before falling asleep or wake up to every morning and he won’t be the one I will miss like crazy after leaving school.”</p><p>Akaashi furrows his eyebrows, but his arms slowly fall back to his sides: “Okay?”</p><p>“That’s you. Akaashi, when I said that I love you, I meant just that. I know it was on a spur of the moment and not the confession someone as incredibly intelligent, beautiful and kind as you deserves. I was stupid. But I really, really love you. A lot. And I’m sorry. I understand if you reject me; you deserve better than this.”</p><p>Shit. While the silent between them stretches out, his stomach is getting so tight that he fears throwing up.</p><p>“Gosh, you’re so stupid, Kōtarō.”, Akaashi says, but his voice sounds happy, “Of course I like – No. I love you too.”</p><p>Kōtarō can’t help the squeak of joy that escapes his throat.</p><p>He wraps Akaashi into his arms and hugs him as tight as he can, before pulling back and finally, after years’ worth of pining, kisses those plum lips.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So uhm... I might love Kenma a bit more than the rest, which should be pretty obvious? Anyway, I like the idea of him being smart enough to see what's going on, but also kind of ruining it further by not knowing what his own behavior might lead Akaashi to think. </p><p>Anyway, here we are. I promise the next chapter is going to be better, goes back to the challenge, and will also focus further on the reactions (and most likely a betting pool) of Seijoh's team.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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